THIS grand structure was branded Queensland’s strangest hotel in 1934.

The “temporary bar”, served the licensing purposes of the Broadway Hotel, near Kingaroy, Queensland, after the original pub was destroyed by fire in 1932.

While normally there’s a limited time for temporary bars to remain operating, owing to litigation between the owner and the licensee, the Broadway Hotel’s make-shift bar was allowed to continue serving up the amber nectar when this grainy photo was published in the Brisbane Week on January 10 1934.

The quaint temporary pub, which looked like it may have had separate entry and exit doors, became a familiar sight to travellers along the Kingaroy to Ipswich Road from 1932, until the replacement hotel was completed in 1937.

The first Broadway Hotel was built by Joseph Thomas Anderson in 1929.

Anderson, a well known resident of the Noosa area, was born at Maleny, NSW, in 1888. He engaged in timber getting in the Cooroy district, before his marriage to Eileen Margaret Walsh at Coffs Harbour in 1913.

The couple became hosts of the Globe Hotel at Inglewood in the late 1920s before they went to Kingaroy, where they established the Broadway Hotel.

The license of the two-storey timber, Taabinga Village Hotel, established in 1902, was destroyed by fire in 1929, and removed to Kingaroy, enabling the Broadway Hotel to open for business in 1930.

Just two years into hosting the Broadway Hotel tragedy struck the Andersons when their pub was completely destroyed by fire.

While the couple challenged authorities to have the license of the Broadway Hotel removed into the centre of Kingaroy, the Andersons operated a corrugated iron “temporary bar” from the site.

The drawn-out battle to have their pub relocated into town was eventually won and the pair opened the ‘new’ Broadway Hotel at 151 Kingaroy Street in 1937. However, Joseph Anderson would not enjoy the fruits of his labour for very long, and he died the following year at the age of 50, leaving a grown-up family of five. His widow, Eilleen would take-over as licensee of the new pub.

Sadly the Broadway Hotel closed for business in recent years, and almost met the fate of its original in December 2022 when a fire broke out on the second storey. Thankfully the blaze was brought under control, but caused considerable damage to the historic pub.

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Categories: Queensland hotels

Tags: Broadway Hotel Kingaroy, Kingaroy, temporary bar