VOLUME 19 - ISSUE 11
WWW.MOUNTMORGAN.ORG.AU
19 JUNE - 3 JULY 2024
MOUNT MORGAN ARGUS PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY MOUNT MORGAN PROMOTION & DEVELOPMENT INC. ABN 21 391 526 801 | 1 RAILWAY PDE, MOUNT MORGAN, Q 4714, AUSTRALIA.
Donations for groups...Page 6
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Golf News...Page 7
ONLINE AUCTION HERALDS A NEW ERA FOR ICONIC HOTEL history with strong ties to Mount Morgan. The original hotel was built in 1928 but was razed to the ground by fire in July 1934. At the time of the fire the hotel was owned by Joseph McMullen, but by April 1935, Sophia and James Duthie bought the land and erected a temporary bar on the site. Later that same year, Mrs Duthie was instructed by the Mount Morgan Licensing Court to construct proper premises “for the benefit of travellers” and to stop trading as a “grog shop”. The Dululu Hotel under restoration.
It’s not every day that you have the opportunity to bid online for a beer, but in this day of technological advancements – it’s probably one of the last frontiers and what is a more fitting time to do this than for the “phoenix-like” restoration of Dululu’s Hotel. Owners, Nicole Newman and Rob Johnstone from Banana have decided to hold the auction for the first “official” beer in the lead-up to the reopening of the fully restored iconic hotel and the funds will go to the Royal Flying Doctors Service. The couple have owned the Banana Hotel-Motel and Accommodation Village(Dawson
Hospitality Group) since 2016 and have been travelling the route past the Dululu Hotel for the last few years. “I often thought it was such a shame to see the remains of the hotel. I think it would have been a great hotel in its day,” Nicole said. “With the proposed Wind Farm and other development happening in the region, I thought the hotel could be great again,” she said. With this in mind, the couple purchased the Dululu Hotel and started the arduous task of restoration. The Dululu Hotel has an interesting
Sophia and James bought the Railway Hotel Boarding House and relocated it to the site from Mount Morgan. The Duthies had previously owned the local shop and several properties in the area and were heavily involved in looking after community and sporting groups in and around Dululu. Sophie ran the hotel until her death in 1949 when the hotel passed to her daughter. It remained in the Duthie family until the late 1970’s – early 1980’s. Since this time the hotel was owned and operated by a variety of owners. Wind the clock forward to 2015 and the hotel again was lost to fire. Some attempts were Continued on Page 2