Hingerty Hotels- Updated November 2023
How many hotels did John Hingerty and his wife Isabella McDonald own/run in New South Wales?
Number 1: Telegraph Inn, Yass
1859-1860
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| Yass Courier 25 June 1859 |
After only one year, John handed over ownership to Mr Edwards in June 1860.
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| Yass Courier 30 June 1860 |
A John and Isabella descendant (MT) supplied the photograph below of the last standing wall of the Inn taken in 2018.
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| Telegraph Inn- About 2018 Source: MT |
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John & Isabella descendant Mary Eastlake (Silk, Kennedy, Hingerty) holding an Irish flag in front of the Telegraph Inn remains outside Yass, New South Wales, September 2023 |
Number 2: Light House Inn, Ironbung
?1873- 1881?
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| Yass Courier 15 Nov 1878 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 29 Oct 1878 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 24 May 1879 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 14 Aug 1888 |
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| Freemans Journal 7 August 1880 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 18 Oct 1893 |
3. Golden Fleece Hotel, Cootamundra
1881- ?
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| Photo suppled by Mary Eastlake |
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| Cootamundra Herald 8 Jan 1881 |
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| Southern Argus 15 Jul 1881 |
In July 1881 there was a charge of gambling- which was ultimately dismissed.....
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| Cootamundra Herald 16 July 1881 |
Starting peg for the new railway in August 1881
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| Southern Argus 16 August 1881 |
4. Hingerty's Boarding House in Parker Street, Cootamundra
1884? - 188?
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| Photo supplied by Mary Eastlake |
The first mention of the Hingerty's Boarding House is in December 1884 when John Hingerty puts the newly built property on the market.
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| Cootamundra Herald 17 Dec 1884 |
Notice to sell 31 Dec 1884
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| Cootamundra Herald 31 Dec 1884 |
The sale must not have taken place however, as in November 1885 Mr Ryves takes a lease out on the boarding house.
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| Cootamundra Herald 21 Nov 1885 |
5. Commercial Hotel, Cootamundra
January 1900- November 1902
After selling their Rosegreen rural property and all its contents, the 74 year old Isabella purchased the lease on the Commercial Hotel, Cootamundra.
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| Cootamundra Herald 13 Jan 1900 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 6 Jan 1900 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 8 Dec 1900 |
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| Commercial Hotel Cootamundra, corner of Wallendoon St and Thompson St. Building later demolished and replaced with Les Deals Garage- see below |
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| Photos and map supplied by Mary Eastlake |
Isabella is consistently listed as the licensee from January 1900 until January 1901.
Thomas is listed as Barman (Hotel) on his son's birth certificate in October 1900, so he is not the licensee in 1900.
In June 1901, the licence is transferred to Isabella's son Thomas
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| Cootamundra Herald 22 June 1901 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 13 Nov 1901 |
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| Cootamundra Herald 29 Mar 1902 |
In April 1902 in the small claims court, Thomas states that Isabella is the Licensee and that he does the books and looks after the bar on her behalf. So, it seems that the licence moved back and forth....
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| Cootamundra Herald 12 Apr 1900 |
In May 1902 it seems Isabella's elder son John Alexander is holding the licence....
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| Cootamundra Herald 31 May 1902 |
But then Thomas is once again listed as the licensee in June 1902....
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| Cootamundra Herald June 25 1902 |
Thomas sells the licence and lease in Nov 1902
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| Cootamundra Herald 22 Nov 1902 |
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| Clippings supplied by Mary Eastlake |
Where did the family live and work between November 1902 and May 1905?????
In the 1903-4 Electoral Roll Isabella is living with Ellen Hingerty at "Sunnybank", Cootamundra.
Where are John Alexander and Thomas?
Is "Sunnybank" in town or a rural property?
6. Westminster Hotel, Temora
May 1905- ?
In May 1905 the then 79 year old Isabella took up the lease on the substantial Westminster Hotel 207 Hoskins Street Temora. This hotel had been built in 1892 and was the first brick built hotel in the town.
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| Albury Banner & Wodonga Express 26 May 1905 |
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| Photo supplied by Mary Eastlake |
In September 1905 - Charged with allowing drinking on Sunday.
Isabella is listed as the licence holder with her sons John and Thomas serving in the bar.
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| Temora Star 2 Sep 1905 |
Isabella Hingerty is listed in Govt Gazette of August 1906 as the licensee of the Westminster Hotel.
In April 1906 there is a report of money being stolen from the till at Hingerty's hotel and of the assault of Helen Hingerty.... is this the Westminster Hotel and is Helen = Ellen (wife of John Alexander)?
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| Temora Star 11 April 1906 |
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| Clipping supplied by Mary Eastlake |
John and Isabella's son, John Alexander Hingerty and his wife Ellen, took up the Railway Hotel at Wallenbeen around 1907:
- In an obituary of 1909 for John Alexander it stated that he had been at Wallenbeen for two years. (Freeman Journal 3 June 1909)
- In August 1906 John Alexander was listed as a butcher in Hoskins St Temora (Temora Star 15 Aug 1906)
- If the three children in the photo below are Isabella (born 1902), John Leo (born 1903) and Thomas Bede (born 1905)- baby Bill was born in Temora in August 1906 and then their last son Ignatius Canice (Frank) was born in 1908 and registered, not at Temora, but Murrumburrah (the registration district for Wallenbeen).
This all indicates a move from Temora between August 1906 and 1907.
Did Isabella give up the Westminster Hotel and invest in the Railway Hotel after August 1906???
Is that Isabella sitting in the chair beside John Alexander, his wife Ellen and three young children? Family oral history says that it is Isabella (Granny Hingerty).
(Thank you to CP and John Alexander descendant JG for identifying the family members in the photo).
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| Clipping supplied by Mary Eastlake |
There is no further reference of the Hingerty's running a hotel in Temora after 1906.
Thomas is listed as a Miner living in Temora on his son's birth certificate of September 1907.
In the 1913 Electoral Roll Isabella's occupation was listed as Domestic Duties- so her farming and hotelier days were over.
Isabella died 15 October 1913 at the age of 87, while living at the deBoos Street home of her son Thomas in Temora.
Summary:
John and Isabella ran six inns/hotels/boarding houses in New South Wales. While we don't know the exact dates for each hotel, we do know the order in which they were operated.
At times they operated the hotel in conjunction with a rural property, at other times they were hoteliers rather than farmers or farmers and not hoteliers..... they seemed to have been always on the look out for an opportunity to improve their station in life.
John and Isabella worked hard even into their old age, and achieved great things for two immigrants who arrived in Australia with nothing.
The Hingertys of Stafford, UK ran a boarding house,
the 'other' John Hingerty ran a hotel in Victoria Australia,
children of John and Isabella also ran hotels-
were there any hotel running Hingertys in the USA or Ireland?
When our ancestors 'took up land' for pastoral or hotel purposes, that land had prior owners.
The land on which the Hingerty hotels operated, was Wiradjuri land.
I acknowledge the ongoing connection to this land by the Wiradjuri people and pay respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
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