Pics from the Past | Royal Hotel: High St’s pub scene

High St in Shepparton had eight pubs.

“Eight hotels and one wee shanty were opened in High St in the early years.

As well as the Prince of Wales Inn and the Shepparton Hotel, there were the Criterion on the south-east corner of the High St-Maude St intersection and the Royal Hotel about where Wong’s World now stands, and the Terminus on the south side.

On the north side, where Nancarrow’s and the Shepparton Shopping Centre now stands, was the Farmer’s Arms, then further east, the Commercial, then the Goulburn Valley.

The wooden structures of the Goulburn Valley, Terminus and Commercial hotels were destroyed by fire at different times.

Across the road from the Royal Hotel was a public hall, built by a local company, with many citizens taking shares.

Many dances and concerts were held there, but it eventually went bankrupt, and was sold to the Anglican Church as a parish hall.

Before the hall was built, there apparently was a dam on the site.

The dam was surrounded by dense timber and scrub on the north and east sides, and kangaroos would periodically appear from the scrub to drink at the dam.

Frequently, from the verandah of the Royal Hotel, shots were fired at them by local shooters.”

(Shepparton News, year unknown)

Geoff Allemand is an amateur photographer and Lost Shepparton Facebook page admin. Please share your Pics from the Past at pastpics@mmg.com.au