Carol Duncan speaks
with Sarah Cameron from Newcastle City Council about
The history of Newcastle's Star Hotel. 4 February, 2013
The Star Hotel site is a large complex running through from Hunter to
King Street. There's actually about eight separate buildings that have been joined
together and make up this Star Hotel complex, it's got a really long
history. There was an event in the 1970s (the 1979 riot) and that's
about the be all and end all, but the Star Hotel has a really
interesting history that runs right back to the early development of
Newcastle West back in 1855.
"The Cameron family built the Star Hotel in 1855 with the coming of the
railway line. The Honeysuckle Point railway station was just across the
road behind where the TAFE is now."
"There was a big demand for accommodation for travellers coming off the
train and railway workers, construction workers. Ewan Cameron built the
Star Hotel realising there was money to be made. He'd made his money on
the goldfields in Queensland then came back and started farming at
Hexham, became associated with other businessmen in Newcastle and built
the Star."
It's a group of buildings from the pub, to the family buildings to the
accommodation - it's immense.
"Ewan's son, Hugh, took over the license in the 1880s. He had a series
of stables built so it's quite possible that some of these buildings
could be agglomerations of the stables that were here."
That would explain network of laneways that run along the side and
through the middle of the complex.
"Ewan had previously had wooden cottages here which were all lived in
by members of the Cameron clan. The extended family lived on this site
originally in not much more than humpies and still spoke Gaelic amongst
the family. They came here after being kicked off their highland
properties during the Scottish clearances."
"Hugh Cameron lived until 1921 and had the hotel with one of his
daughters, Lena, who also owned the Centennial Hotel up the other end
of town."
"The family had strong links with the Newcastle Jockey Club, a lot of
the racehorses would be stabled here at the hotel and the Cameron
Handicap is named after them."
"In the 1880s, the Star was very prosperous because of the Honeysuckle
workshops being established, and lots of new businesses in this end of
town so the hotel was sort of a dormitory for a lot of construction
workers."
Sarah adds that the hotel also had some very interesting clientele,
"Yes, Professor Godfrey and his monkey circus! He came here annually
until his monkeys decided to burn down the stables and he was never
heard from again."
The Star Stables were quite notable and they had handlers to take care
of the horses. The Cameron's family hotel on Steel and Hunter Streets
was the 'brother' of this hotel.
The Newcastle Trades Hall was on the northern side of Hunter Street and
many of its members, after the 1890s, would frequent the Star Hotel.
The Camerons had a reputation for being very generous and helping
people in need.
"In the coal strike in 1909 the executive of the miners union withdrew
all of the funds from the bank because they feared that the government
would seize those assets and they wouldn't be able to pay their miners.
So the money was withdrawn, given to the Camerons here at the Star
Hotel who basically then had the job of paying miners and miners
families during that year-long strike."
"All of the histories you read of this site describe it as a rabbit
warren of rooms. Even when it was still operating as hotel in the 1930s
and 1940s there were still dozens of accommodation rooms."
"Lena Campbell, Hugh Cameron's daughter, also ran the Centennial Hotel
up in Scott Street - which was one of the largest hotels in the
southern hemisphere - she owned it for a period of time, kept the
freehold title but she leased the hotel to Tooth & Co. Just
before her father died she purchased the whole thing outright."