Before that it already had something of a reputation. Matthias Hardingham had a house on the land from about 1859.

After 1865 it was listed in the Horsham rate book as a house and store. The "store" was probably a sly grog shop well before becoming licensed in 1874.

During a hearing before the hotel licensing court on Friday, December 15,1882, his lawyer, Mr Twigg, let slip that the "house had been a licensed hotel for 25 or 30 years" - an interesting statement given the first licence for the premises was issued on 24 September 1874.

It appears the eastern end of Wilson Street was considered the "rough end of town".

In the 1870s and early 1880s there were three hotels in close proximity: The Club Hotel and The Horsham Hotel were on opposite sides of the Urquhart/Wilson street intersection and the Crown Hotel was just one block further east, on the north-west corner of McPherson and Wilson streets.

In the 1870s and 1880s many Horsham hotels were licensed until 3am to allow for the express train's arrival in Horsham at 2.30 am.

Public drunkenness was rife and meant that law and order was difficult to maintain, especially at the eastern end of town.

At the licensing hearing of December 10,1877 Hardingham was refused a licence due to the Horsham Hotel not being run properly.

Four weeks later, on January 7,1878, a new applicant, James Wall, was granted a publican's licence under Section 47 of the Licencing Act.

That licence was transferred to Robert Trail on 17 September 1878.

Matthias Hardingham remained the owner of the hotel. Alexander and Charles Smith bought the hotel from Hardingham about December 1878.

The licence was transferred to Alexander Smith on January 10,1879.

Two years later Smith leased the hotel to John Bubbs.

On December 13, 1881 Bubbs was granted a renewal of his licence, however, he failed to pay the licence fee so the hotel was unlicensed for the whole of 1882.

A new application for a licence was made to the Licensing Court on December 15,1882 but it was refused due to the "dilapidated condition" of the buildings and there being no need for more licensed hotels in that part of town.

The hotel was sold in early 1883, renovated and converted to a boarding house managed by Mrs Mary Thorne. It was advertised as "Hamilton Place, a gentlemen's boarding house".

From May 1883 the name was altered to the "Horsham Temperance Hotel" and both men and women were accommodated. Board and lodging was charged at one guinea (one pound one shilling) per week.

It seems the boarding house had a nickname, "Hallelujah House".

The property appears to have been sold again a year later, controlled by agents Young Brothers, still with Mary Thorne as manager.

Up to 1886 there were two more managers: Elizabeth Spence in 1884 and Ann Siddal from 1885 to 1886.

A 1893 map shows the hotel's land had been subdivided into north and south blocks.

It seems likely that between 1886 and 1890 the old hotel was demolished, the land subdivided and sold off as two blocks.

The northern block was owned by O Warne and the southern block by J J Davey.

From about 1935 to 1983 the prominent corner site was occupied by Dawson Plumbers, who specialised in windmills and tanks for rural properties.

The site was then used by plumbing suppliers McIlwraiths then Tradelink until about 2000.

Since then the site has been occupied by Wimmera Spas and Pools.

Contributed by Horsham Historical Society

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