‘ THIS WAS DAD’S PUB’, LOCALS REMEMBER
KERRIE Wakeham’s memories were flooding back as she looked over the remains of the heritage- listed Victoria Park Hotel.
When Ms Wakeham was a little girl, her late father, Donald Pearce, who would have been 94 this year, used to take her and her sister to the pub, sit them up on the bar stools and shout them a pink lemonade as he snuck a few beers in on the way home.
“He would’ve been crying last night,” Ms Wakeham said.
Ms Wakeham and her mother, Phyllis Pearce, had heard the news and went down to the scene of the devastating fire that reduced the pub to rubble.
Ms Wakeham’s mum and sister were both born around the corner at Bell St and they lived for many years in a house on nearby Fourth Ave, which Phyllis and Donald, a railway worker, moved into in 1956.
“I can’t believe it’s gone,” Ms Wakeham said. “All my Dad’s mates … this was their local. I just think of it like that’s Dad’s pub.”
Ms Wakeham hoped the pub would be rebuilt.
“Yeah, it should look like the old pub with the open doors and open windows,” she said.
Townsville historian Dr Dorothy GibsonWilde said she was shocked to wake up to news that the historic pub she was so fond of had burnt down.
“I was very, very sad indeed,” Dr GibsonWilde said. “The hotel was greatly beloved by so many people.”
She said the pub was very valuable heritage wise.
“It was the last example of a timber hotel in Townsville with a balcony, and not a veranda that stretched over the footpath,” Dr GibsonWilde said.
Dr Gibson- Wilde said the history of the hotel represented the social history of Townsville.
“It had great character and a lot of the workers who knew it from way back, they could pitch a lot of yarns in the bar there,” she said.
She said the Victoria Park Hotel was historically linked with football in Townsville.
“Victoria Park was the home of some of the earliest big football matches and all the players used to resort to the Victoria Park Hotel to have a pot after the matches,” Dr GibsonWilde said. I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S GONE. ALL MY DAD’S MATES … THIS WAS THEIR LOCAL. I JUST THINK OF IT LIKE THAT’S DAD’S PUB ... HE WOULD’VE BEEN CRYING LAST NIGHT IT WAS THE LAST EXAMPLE OF A TIMBER HOTEL IN TOWNSVILLE WITH A BALCONY AND NOT A VERANDA THAT STRETCHED OVER THE FOOTPATH IT HAD GREAT CHARACTER AND A LOT OF THE WORKERS WHO KNEW IT FROM WAY BACK, THEY COULD PITCH A LOT OF YARNS IN THE BAR THERE