_{By MICK ROBERTS ©}

Long before it became the bustling, beer-soaked corner of Irish Murphy’s, the intersection of Elizabeth and George Streets was born from grit, survival, and a widow’s desperate gamble.

Armed with nothing but an empty property and a dream of survival, 32-year-old Ann Martha Witham stood before a Brisbane magistrate on December 18, 1864.

A widow left with four young children aged between two and 12 to feed, she successfully won the license to open the Dunmore Arms Hotel — a modest refuge watering hole, which would hold the devastating, heartbreak-shattered tale of Ann Witham herself.

The tragic story of Ann Witham, tugs at the heart strings.

Ann Martha Witham (Nee Gregory) was born in the East End of London in 1831. She married Captain William Witham in New Zealand in 1852 before the couple made their way to Queensland. Her husband, William Witham was a mariner, who on arrival to Australia, plied the coastal seas between Brisbane and Sydney, and also was a riverboat captain between Brisbane and Ipswich.

As the Witham family grew, William and Ann became publicans in the Toowoomba district. The couple with their two children, Elizabeth, 3, and Thomas, 1, took the reins of the Bulls Head Inn at Drayton in 1856.

Ann, 25 years of age, would single handedly manage the inn while her husband was away at sea or on the Brisbane River. They remained as hosts at Drayton for three years before establishing the Queens Arms Hotel at nearby Toowoomba in 1858.

The couple opened the Queen’s Arms Hotel in Ruthven Street Toowoomba on September 6, 1858.

The mariner caused a sensation in May 1862 when he was arrested and charged by police for assaulting his wife at the Queens Arms Hotel. According to reports, Captain Witham, who was a habitual wife-beater, fronted the Toowoomba Magistrates Court on May 6. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

The incident caused quite a scandal and was widely reported in local newspapers.The Toowoomba correspondent to the North Australian reported on May 31, 1862:

You will no doubt remember that some weeks ago William Witham, better known as ‘Captain Witham,’ was sentenced to six months imprisonment for a brutal assault on his wife. For the information of those who may think the sentence a hard one, it may be necessary to state that he locked his wife up in a top bedroom, and to make assurance doubly sure, placed a massive iron post bedstead against the door. He then commenced to pummel his wife most unmercifully. He split her upper lip in two, gave her two black eyes; and her body and arms were covered with bruises as large as the palm of one’s hand. Her cries of murder and for help attracted a large crowd around the place, and the Mayor, on being appealed to, gave the police an order to break open the door, and take Witham into custody. The order was obeyed, and amid the jeers and groans of an excited mob, Witham was taken to the lock-up. On the following Monday, Witham was brought before the Mayor and the P.M., when Mrs. Witham, at the request of the Bench, displayed the severe injuries she had received. As it was not the first, second, or third time that he had been guilty of this offence, and as it was the second time he had been brought before the court, the Bench considered that they would not be doing their duty if they did not give Withian a severe punishment for his brutal conduct. His sentence here is regarded as a just one and although a petition was presented to the P.M. and the Mayor, requesting mitigation of the hard labour portion, not one sought to shorten his sentence. I have given you this outline of the case, in order that your readers might know the facts, and thus be guarded against misrepresentation.

When Captain Witham was released from prison he returned to the employ of Messrs Harris, who ran freight vessels between Sydney and Brisbane. It seems fate eventually caught-up with the mariner in 1864.

Captain Witham slipped while boarding the ‘Wild Wave’, docked on the Brisbane River, and fell between the vessel and Harris’ Wharf. The tide in the river was on the move, and the ‘fresh’ had caused strong current. The North Australian reported on March 12, 1864:

[After Captain Witham fell between the vessel and wharf] Ropes were at once thrown out, and, but that he must have been rendered unconscious from his head striking against a portion of the wharf, he could easily have grasped them, and saved his life. But such was the untoward mandate of fate, he was swept away with the violence of the current and was never afterwards seen. No efforts have been spared to recover the body. Immediately he had left their sight, the Captains of the Maid of Riverton and Wild Wave, with the courage and sympathy which always distinguishes seamen, manned their boats and went in search of him; but it proved a vain and hopeless task. Messrs Harris, too, on hearing yesterday morning of the sad event, had a strict search prosecuted along the banks of the river for a considerable distance; but the boat returned without any tidings. Deceased was 35 years of age, and has left a widow and three children. The Messrs Harris, in whose employment Captain Witham had been nearly 12 years, with a laudable generosity, have promptly subscribed the sum of £150 for the bereaved widow and family; and the employees in their establishment have raised that sum to £200. Captain Witham was generally esteemed by a large circle of acquaintances, and particularly by his employers and those of his own profession, as testified by the lowering at half-mast of the flags of all the shipping in the river.

The Captain’s body was finally recovered from Luggage Point at the mouth of the Brisbane River at Moreton Bay, about 21km northeast of the Brisbane CBD, on May 18, 1864.

The resourceful Widow Witham, it seems used the hundreds of pounds raised for her family wisely, and invested in opening a new hotel in Brisbane. The Witham’s had left the Queens Arms Hotel in July 1862, just prior to the Captain’s imprisonment for domestic violence.

Ann Witham leased a building from Robert Cribb on the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets in Brisbane and received a publican’s license for the Dunmore Arms on Tuesday, December 13 1864.

Mrs Witham, however, wasn’t to have a lengthy stay as host of the Dunmore Arms. She renewed the license of the hotel in April 1865 before her death at the age of 32 on October 4, 1865.

Just 10 months after the opening her new pub, the Brisbane publican was dead, sadly leaving her four children, aged from two to 12 years of age, orphaned. How horrible for these children, who suddenly had lost their mother, just over a year after losing their father.

James O’Grady took-over the license of the pub for a short period of time after Mrs Witham’s death, before another widow, Margaret McCotter became host in April 1866.

The hotel became infamous on September 9, 1866 when Police Magistrate, Hugh Hamon Massie, read the Riot Act from the pub’s balcony after a disturbance in George Street.

In September 1866, as the biting sting of economic depression gripped the colony, a furious mob of hundreds marched on the government stores in Brisbane demanding “bread or blood”. Forced to intervene, Police Magistrate H.H. Massie stepped onto the balcony of the Dunmore Arms Hotel to quell the escalating riot.

The September sun beat down on a restless sea of desperate men, their faces etched with starvation and anger. Holding the weighty government proclamation in his hands, Massie took a deep breath. He needed to be heard over the rising roar of the crowd.

“God save the Queen!” his voice rang out, cutting through the humid afternoon air. The restless murmuring abruptly subsided. As the crowd quieted, Massie began reading the Riot Act, commanding the tumultuous gathering to disperse peacefully.

It was a tense stand-off. For agonising moments, the mob simply stared up at the magistrate on the balcony, tension crackling in the streets below. Then, the undeniable presence of the law began to break their resolve. Men shifted uneasily, a few stepping back into the shadows of George Street. The reading served its purpose, successfully averting a full-scale sacking of the city.

Massie was a prominent colonial official and Justice of the Peace, he served as Brisbane’s Police Magistrate during the mid-to-late 1860s, a pivotal time immediately following the separation of Queensland from New South Wales.

The Dunmore Arms continued trading at the corner of George and Elizabeth Streets until 1887 when tenders were called to rebuild the old pub into a grand three-storey hotel designed by architects, John Hall and Sons. The new hotel opened the following year. The Brisbane Evening Observer reported on May 24, 1888:

A New Hotel

The new Treasury Hotel, at the corner of George and Elizabeth streets, which has lately been opened by Mr. G. C. Cutbush, is amongst the finest of the hotels in the city, being replete with every comfort procurable. The building itself is three-storied, and though not much ground was available for a site, it is very roomy. On the ground floor are the general and private bars, both very large and commodious, the parlours and dining and commercial rooms. The dining-room is lofty and airy and is fitted up with small side tables, capable of seating thirty-six people with comfort. There is a small lift by which the dishes are brought up from the kitchen, which is underneath, and thus the smell of the cooking and in the kitchen is avoided. The commercial room is a very large room, and eminently suitable for meetings. It contains a large telescope table, writing table, sofas, &c. The cellar, though large, is hardly large enough for the business Mr. Cutbush anticipates, as he intends doing something in the wholesale line. It is very well stocked, however, with drinkables of the first quality. There are several small rooms near the cellar in which are stored wines, spirits, bottled ales, &c. The two upper stories are principally devoted to supplying the wants of the travelling public, and are sumptuously furnished and carpeted throughout. The bedrooms, single and double, number in all twenty-two. Each one contains furnishing of a very superior character. On the first floor is, the ladies sitting-room, which is furnished and corpoted with much taste; and contains an excellent piano. This room opens on to a very commodious balcony. The gentlemen’s sitting-room is upstairs and is also very tastefully furnished and decorated. Each floor is supplied with excellent bathrooms and other conveniences. No expense has been spared in making the fittings of the hotel of a first-class character, and it is anticipated that the Treasury will soon rank amongst the most favoured of Brisbane pubs.

The pub traded as the Treasury for over a century before again being remodelled and re-opened as Irish Murphy’s In October 1999.

Today, Irish Murphy’s stands as a beloved cornerstone of Brisbane’s Irish pub scene. It seamlessly blends modern hospitality with old-world charm, featuring exposed brick, rich timber beams, and historic basement stonework. The establishment is well-known for pouring hearty pints of Guinness, serving comforting pub classics, and hosting regular live music.

As one of the central gathering spots in the CBD, the venue preserves the historic legacy of the 1880s architecture while serving as a vibrant hub for both locals and travellers. You can view the menu, find location details, and book a table by visiting Irish Murphy’s Brisbane on Queensland.com

Read more about this pub at The Time Gents story: Explore Irish Murphy’s: A Historical Treasure in Brisbane

_{© Copyright Mick Roberts 2026}

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