Hotels of Gympie.

Gympie, like so many towns that came into their own in the gold
mining era of the late 1800s and early 1900s has a proliferation
of Hotels (Pubs), most of the ones I have chosen here are built
of timber and follow the "Queenslander" style.

Mt Pleasant Hotel, features the very wide verandahs that became part
of this style of hotel.

Phoenix Hotel, this is the only hotel I have featured that isn't a timber
clad building, it has a rendered finish, but still features the high
ceilings of a Queenslander for better ventilation.

Railway Hotel, naturally enough alongside the railway line very close to
the station.

Freemasons Hotel, subjected to a huge renovation program recently.

Spare a thought for the roofer/plumber who had the job of building
the roof over this stairway, very intricate job.

Apollian Hotel, more of those big verandahs

Commercial Hotel, this hotel was recently adorned with about 30
reasonably well painted young ladies, while this may be a bit over the
top, it has certainly created some interest.


Closeup of one of the many ladies that adorn the Commercial, I had
intended to use this picture in a Halloween post, but I forgot it.

Jockey Club Hotel, this is quite a recent building, but it has replicated
the style of most of the other hotels shown here.

I wonder how many Commercial, Railway, and Grand Hotels there are in
Australian cities and towns.

Gympie Queenslanders

These houses are among my favourites in Gympie, all are
traditional Queenslanders.

The roof line and timber in this house make it a natural winner.


Showing a bit of the detail that makes Queenslanders so distinctive

There is a superstition that the front steps should never lead straight
from the front door to the street or all your good luck or karma can
run away.

I think perhaps my favourite for many reasons not the least of which
is the magnificent view over the Mary River.

This style of stairway halts the flow of good luck quite effectively.

This is a very large house as can be seen when I included some of the
rear section as seen from the side.

Another lovely house with a spectacular view over the Mary River.


As with most things there is a down side to Queenslanders, they are
traditionally constructed almost entirely of timber, even down to the
interior walls and ceilings, in our semi tropical climate this means a lot
of painting and other maintenance, there is also the concern about
fire, once alight there is no putting out a fire in several tons of dry
well seasoned timber.

Gympie 1888 - 1895

Some of Gympie's beautiful old buildings.

The original Post Office, built in the late 1890s

I don't know the history of this building, but it now serves as the head
office for "The Gympie Music Muster."

The original Gympie Town Hall

The local Shire offices are in a beautiful old building which has had an
annexe added which while quite functional doesn't really suit the
building.

Another one from the turn of the last century, was a gold assayers office.

The Mary River.

This is the normally peaceful Mary River which has been known to
become a tyrant at times.

This photo was taken from the "Kidd Bridge", during the 1999 flood
there would have been about 25 feet of water over my head had I
been standing at this spot.

This is Mary Street, Gympie's main shopping street looking north.

From about the same spot during 1999 flood, which was the biggest
for 100 years.

Mary Street Gympie, looking south.

Again from about the same position during the 1999 flood, at this
intersection there was about 15 feet of flood water.

Some history.

The floods that have plagued Gympie for centuries are caused by heavy
rains in the headwater area, just to the north of Gympie there is a
steep walled narrow valley which causes a bottleneck restricting the
water from escaping.

The resultant back-up of water is what floods the Gympie area, this
means that, while the flooding does cause serious damage through
inundation, it is not a roaring torrent that carries away all before it.

Rather it is a gradual rising of which we have a fairly good warning, about
18 hours usually during which time the town is a hive of activity as
people who may be in the way of the water move their possessions to
higher ground.

The worst affected area is the main shopping precinct, where
unbelievably the shops keep on re-opening and awaiting the next flood,
almost without exception the houses that get flooded are rezoned and
are not reused for housing.

If the vaunted Mary River Dam goes ahead this should ensure there are
no more floods for Gympie, however as there hasn't been even a hint of
flooding since 1999 it does make one wonder whether the rainfall
pattern has changed and if so, would the new dam ever fill.

Long term history says yes, but we used to get a serious flood every
three years on average, with two floods in the same year not unheard of
and now here we are without any threat for seven years.