ANGLEDOOL’S Exchange Hotel served the bustling 19th-century pastoral and opal-mining communities for just over half a century before its sudden demise.
Angledool is a remote rural locality and historical village in north-western NSW. Located on the Narran River, the village is about 45km north of the opal-mining town of Lightning Ridge on the Castlereagh Highway and about 10 minutes south-east of the famous Hebel Pub, just over the Queensland border.
The large timber two-storey Exchange Hotel was established as an outback pub, accommodation stop, and a vital changing station on the Cobb & Co coach route between Walgett and the Queensland border.
The pub was originally licensed on January 14 1896 to George Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick had a short stay as host and died the following year “after a long illness”, with his wife, Emma taking the reins of the hotel.
After opening in 1896, the pub joined the established Commercial Hotel to service the thirsts of the outback setllement. However, by 1938, the Exchange Hotel was the only pub left trading in the town after the license of the Commercial Hotel was surrended by its owner and host, James Harper on February 27 1937.
Brewery giant, Tooheys Limited bough the Exchange Hotel in 1939 for a reported £3,000.
The Exchange Hotel continued servicing the small outback town until it was completely destroyed by a bushfire on September 1 1951. The Bathurst based newspaper, National Advocate reported on September 4 1951:
Fire Destroys Hotel Houses
WALGETT. Monday: A fire at the week-end destroyed two houses and the only hotel in the small town of Angledool. The fire also disrupted trunk-line telephone services between Angl-dool and Walgett, 86 miles away. The hotel, an old two storey building, was once a depot for Cobb and Co. coaches. Angledool has about 200 residents, but its only fire brigade is a volunteer organisation. The volunteers managed to save the Post Office, which was also threatened by the fire.
The Exchange was never rebuilt and the license was eventually removed to Colyton on August 24 1960. The founding publican, Emma Kirkpatrick died in Waterloo Sydney in 1926 at the age of 75.
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Categories: Australian Hotels, NSW hotels
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