CITATION BY ANDREW WARD, HERITAGE ARCHITECT, Mar. 1991

Description: ‘A two-storeyed stuccoed Italianate hotel with hipped roof and balustraded parapet with pinnacle tower surmounting the entry. Upper level windows are framed with pilasters in Palladian form. A later two-storeyed timber verandah incorporated a shamrock motif in the frieze. Lower level columns are iron on pedestals. Inside the public areas have been altered.’ (Described as 579-587 High St.)

History: From the beginnings of the township of Echuca there was a ‘Shamrock Hotel’ in High St., on Allot 3, Section 4. In 1891 the small single-storeyed structure was demolished and a new two-storeyed brick hotel completed in 1892. The building was designed by E. J. Henderson of Melbourne and constructed by the Echuca Timber & Iron Co. (P. McBride, manager) for Miss Louisa Eisele, owner and operator of the hotel. It was considered a fine building, well constructed and decorated. By 1919 J. F. Turner was the licensee.

Significance: The ’Shamrock Hotel’ is a distinctive flamboyant hotel in the Port area, erected by the prominent local builder Peter McBride, who also built Millewa Chambers.

Description of property:  Note: The first Shamrock was described in the 1865 Rate Book as being on Allot 5, whereas in the above Heritage Conservation Study in 1991 it was described as being on ‘3’. In the 1868 Valuation Book the Bank of Victoria (now café) was on Allot 2, David Bourke, shoemaker was on 33ft. of Allot 3 (site of new shops built 2001) and the Shamrock was described as being a ‘brick hotel’ on ‘3 & 5'. This description continued over the years, the explanation being that the Shamrock was built on part of each allotment. This is confirmed by a diagram on title dated July 1937 which shows that more than half the Shamrock property is in Allot 3, the balance being in Allot 5.

Lessees/licensees/owners: The pattern generally was for a person to come in as a licensee/lessee and soon afterwards begin buying the property. This was not always the case and there have been many more licensees than owners over the years, particularly in the 1930s, as shown in Sands & McDougall’s directories covering a time when no Valuation Books are available.

SOME NOTABLE OWNERS/LICENSEES.

FIRST SHAMROCK HOTEL

Wm. GRAHAM. 1864-1881 First licensee of original single storey hotel.

Riv. Herald. 22 June 1864. Wm. Pedlew Graham applied for a licence for the Shamrock Hotel which opened in July 1864.

1865 - First Rate Book. Wm. Graham was recorded as licensee of the Shamrock Hotel, and Wm. Taylor as owner of Allot 5 for brick & wood hotel. Taylor is of interest because he was a cousin to Henry Hopwood and was given a Crown Grant of Allot 4, Sec.6, now the site of the Wistaria Tea Rooms and Star Hotel, Murray Esplanade. Taylor was a carpenter who helped Hopwood build his punts and almost certainly built the original single-storey Shamrock Hotel, licensed in 1864 to Graham. By 1866 he was rated as owner.

A. CLARINGBOULD, 1879.
Riv. Herald. 14 Oct. 1879 Advt. for ‘Claringbould’s Shamrock Hotel, late Graham’s, High St. Echuca, Next Bank of Victoria. Good Accommodation. First class stabling.’ Graham was owner, apparently having given up as licensee.

GEORGE DORAN, 1882 - 1884. Owner and licensee for 1882, then put in W. Logan as licensee until  1885, when Doran moved to the Echuca Hotel. Echuca Historical Soc. photo dated c.l885 shows 14 rm. brick hotel with several men outside, including Doran and Fred Shackell.  

WALTER LOGAN, 1885 - 1887. Owner/licensee, brick & wood hotel. NAV £120.  

LOUISA EISELE 1887-1891. Owner  of original building prior to erecting present hotel.

EXISTING SHAMROCK HOTEL

LOUISA EISELE, ( Plummer) 1892-1903
Riv. Herald. 29 March 1892. Opening of new Shamrock Hotel.
Reporting that the “little old fashioned one storey ‘shanty’ has given place to a beautiful structure — one that graces the town and does honour to the courteous young lady who runs the hotel” — Miss L. Eisele. There follows a detailed description of the hotel of 15 rooms. The architect was E. J. Henderson of Melbourne and the builder Mr. P. McBride of Echuca. The opening was celebrated amongst a gathering of local dignitaries. Toasts included one to the ‘popular young hostess, Miss Eisele who was eulogized for her enterprise in causing such a beautiful building to be erected in Echuca.’

Louisa Eisele was born at Kyneton in 1855. Her father Gottlieb Eisele, had a vineyard at Kanyapella and modest inn, probably run by his wife and daughter. It is described in a book called John Bull’s Vineyard, by H. De Castella, published in 1885. The writer visited an ‘old Wurtemberger’ named Gottlieb Eiseli, (sic) who kept an inn at Kanyapella and had two sons, John and Richard, free selectors living nearby and a married daughter ‘a little way off’. His wife was English, aged about 60 years. At that time the old man was very ill in his room and his wife was ‘afraid that our last vintage will all be spoiled. Eiseli is so jealous of his new wines he made us promise not to touch them and since the day they were put into casks they have been neither filled nor ranked off.’ De Castella persuaded the old man to give them the key and waxed lyrical about a white wine drawn off, finding it ‘brilliant liquid amber, a perfect unity of aromas, free from sugar, from alcoholic smell — a rich wine, but sound, soft and mellow like fresh milk.’ The red wine was also ‘perfect’.

The following year on 25 December 1886, the Riv. Herald reported ‘Death of an old resident ’Gottlib Eisle (sic) of Kanyapella, aged 69 years, who had come to Adelaide in 1849 and to Victoria in 1857, settling in Kyneton. In 1862 he came to Echuca district and was the oldest settler on the Goulburn. He was a farmer and vigneron. In 1887 Miss Louisa Eisele bought the one-storey modest Shamrock Hotel from the proceeds of the sale of the farm. By 1891 she was building the new two-storey Shamrock opened in 1892. She became licensee and lived there with her mother Sarah.

On 24 April 1899, seven years after opening the hotel, Louisa aged 44, married widower Edward Plummer, 55, at the hotel, according to Presbyterian rites. Plummer was described as ‘grazier’ but his occupation in 1897/8 was ‘butcher’. On the certificate her father’s name was incorrectly recorded as ‘John William Gottlob Eisele, baker,’ probably her brother.

Louisa and Edw. Plummer were rated jointly for the hotel until 1902. In October 1901 the Shamrock was offered at auction, the ad. stating that Mrs. Plummer was leaving the district. In 1908 Sarah, her mother, died aged 83 years. Louisa Plummer died at Echuca in 1939 aged 84 years.

M. J. HYNES & C. HARTEL 1903-1907. Hynes was licensee/owner until 1905 when C. Hartel of Tongala took over and remained owner until 1908, having put in J. F. Turner as licensee the previous year.

JOHN FRANK TURNER, 1909-1921. By 1909 he was owner and had four licensees during his term. The story goes that Turner had a parrot that swore so badly that the police banned him and he spent his last days out on the Pearse’s farm at Willow Grove.

SHORT TERM OWNERS AND/OR LICENSEES. 1930s. A. W. Thompson, Mrs. Eve Wilson, James Brown & M. Christensen. A.Maddison into l940s.

NORTON TASMAN WRIGHT & MRS. M. 1947-c.1970. In Sept. 1947 Norton Wright, “architect” bought the hotel and remained owner until about 1970. In 1952 he took as partner Mrs M.Lowe, who ran the hotel until her death in 1965. In their day a bowling green stood on the land now occupied by the bottle shop and beer garden, on land (pt. 6) which they bought in 1952. When Mrs. Lowe died Wright took F. H Parr as partner.

FRED & FREDA EIKMAN, 1970-1973. Formerly of Terminus Hotel, Seymour.

VAGG FAMILY, 1973-1985. Five members of the Vagg family listed as joint owners. Bob Vagg was licensee of the Shamrock and Denise Vagg ran the hotel.

Denise Vagg, Shamrock Hotel, Bendigo. Sept. 2005. Stated they were there for 13 years, from July 1973 until 1986, having previously been at the Caledonian, where they carried out renovations. Then moved to the Shamrock, where their policy of renovation continued.

The most notable improvement was the erection of a bottle shop on the street frontage on the south side of the hotel and construction of a restaurant wing behind the bottle shop. Here they introduced a first for Echuca - a French chef able to provide a la carte meals as distinct from the usual counter-type meals available throughout the town. There was a cellar under the bottle shop and this was used by artist Graeme Duffy to exhibit his paintings and also for pottery displays. The bottle shop and restaurant were erected on the site of the former bowling green, which came right up to the south side of the hotel itself. The Vaggs introduced the ‘open bar’ look and also reversed the stairs leading to the upper floor, which originally faced the front door but now face north. They were also among the first to have successful wine auctions.

When Vaggs took over there were, on the Campaspe River frontage at the back, old stables, sheds and a few basic accomm. rooms formerly used by employees. There was once a laneway on the south side of the hotel where tradesmen came upstairs to the balcony. This all changed when 5/6 verandah sleepout rooms upstairs were put in on the south side of the building to replace those near the river. Access to the verandah was via a passageway. Regulars always enjoyed their stay in these rooms.

In the days of earlier licensee/owner Mrs. Lowe, the dining room was at the back on the north side of hotel facing the Campaspe and was reached via swing doors. Mrs. Lowe was renowned for her ornaments from overseas travels which were displayed in cabinets. Long after she had gone people used to come and ask if they could look at the ornaments, which she washed lovingly in a baby’s bath!  

In 1985 the Vaggs sold to a man named Turner from Ceduna, Sth. Australia.

FRONDEUR PTY. LTD. of 246 Melbourne Rd. North Adelaide was registered proprietor on 2 August 1987. (Regn. Mortgage C.B.A same date). Turner ran the hotel for a time, succeeded by several lessees. According to Andrew Ward’s citation dated March 1991 the company still owned the hotel and they or their lessee may well have celebrated the centenary of the building of the Shamrock in 1982, as reported:
Riv. Herald, 13 March 1992, included a ‘Shamrock Hotel Centenary Feature’ to mark the anniversary of its opening in 1892. The original building was described — reprinted from 1892 — and pictures of the ‘old dining room’ (replaced by Vagg’s new restaurant wing) and a photo of the bowling green on the site of the bottle shop in the 1950s. The report stated that prior to the bowling green, the site had been occupied by a tyre service, shoeing forge and saddlery at various times.

THE SHAMROCK SYNDICATE

Several interviews between Andrew Crowe and H. C., August / Sept. 2005.
The Shamrock Syndicate which bought the Shamrock as an investment in December 1995 is made up of members of Des Crowe’s family and Ian and Marie McIntosh. (The property was bought from the mortgagee, C.B.A.) The Des Crowe Family Trust owns one quarter of the property; Andrew & Marjorie Crowe one quarter; Rookerie P/Ltd. (Stephen Crowe) one quarter; and Ian and Marie McIntosh one quarter. Leased it to D.& P. McCumber for a couple of years after purchase. Several other lessees in Crowe’s time. An additional piece of land behind Shamrock, described on Crowe’s title as ‘27 Campaspe Street’ was once the site of stables and basic accommodation rooms. (Crowe’s car yard business was originally at the corner of High & Leslie St. - now site of Port Ice Creamery - and in 1961 moved to present 2005 location at 519 High St. just north of Radcliffe St.)

D. & P. McCumber leased the hotel from the Shamrock syndicate and it was during their term that the hotel was transformed into a traditional Irish pub. The project was completed in October 1998 and was a joint undertaking between the owner and lessee, with the McCumbers doing the work in return for reduced rent and the extension of their lease to 20 years. In the event, they left for Melbourne soon afterwards (later ran two Irish pubs there) and in recent times were at the Botanical Gardens Hotel, Bendigo.

Information gleaned from copies of titles provided by Andrew Crowe.:

July 1937         Jas. Brown, five parts and May Christensen three parts of ownership.

Aug. 1939.      Alexander Maddison.

Sept. 1948       Maude Lowe & Norton Tasman Wright

March 1965     Norton Tasman Wright, surviving proprietor.

Sept. 1965       Norton Wright now in partnership with Francis H. Parr, public accountant of East Malvern, executor of the will of Maude Lowe deceased.

1967?              N. J. & M. H. McLaren, jt. proprietors.

Aug. 1970       Norman & Martha McLaren.

Aug. 1970       Fred & Freda Eckman of Terminus Hotel, Seymour.

May 1977.       John Vagg, Robert Vagg, Dorothy Vagg, Lawrence Vagg and Neil Vagg, joint proprietors. (Mortgage to F. & F. Ekman, registered May 1977)

Various mortgages & caveats registered between 1977 to Apl.1987

1987                Frondeur Pty. Ltd. Melbourne Rd. North Adelaide.