Hotel

The Munbilla Hotel, known as the Duke of York Hotel in its early days, was built and opened by G. & K. Kennedy (formerly of Harrisville) in 1885 during the extension of the railway from Harrisville to Dugandan. It was located on the corner of Munbilla and MacFarlane Roads (on lot 31 of the resubdivision part of sub.3 of portion 181).

Munbilla Hotel - 1908 [1]

Munbilla Hotel - 1908 - reverse

Munbilla Hotel - Lot 31

In Queensland during the early 1900s, a victualler's licence, also known as a publican's licence, was a permit allowing someone to sell alcohol, primarily in hotels. The State Library of Queensland created an index of these licenses from the Queensland Government Gazette (1900 to 1914). The index includes names of individuals, both men and women, who held licenses, and sometimes lists license transfers. [2]

The publicans of the Munbilla Hotel changed frequently over the years: (note: data for some years is currently unavailable)

Newspaper articles 1888 - 1917

In March of 1914 the Hotel was up for sale by George Kennedy. In the advertisement it details that the hotel had 15 rooms with every convenience.

Unfortunately, the Munbilla Hotel was destroyed by fire on 19 October 1917 [3] [4] and was never rebuilt.

In 1971, the store, the storekeeper's home and the old station house was all that remianed, as well as an underground well (topped with concrete and bricks) that was a reserve souce of water for the old Munbilla Hotel.

Today, all that is visible is a Rural Fire Brigade poly tank.

Munbilla Hotel - 'A poly tank' [5]

• [1] picture sourced from Boonah & District Archives
• [2] State Library of Queensland - Licensed Victuallers Index
• [3] Brisbane Courier article Tuesday 23-10-1917.
• [4] Queensland Times article Tuesday 25-10-1917.
• [5] Google Street View 2024.