Our beloved Mundaring Weir Hotel is celebrating being around 126 years this year. For those of you who have been to any of the fantastic events the Pub has held over this time, feel free to contact us on mhhs@mundaringhistory.org or call us on 9295 0540. Jens and his crew have been entertaining us for many years with anything from classical flutist Jane Ritter to rockin' the night with Jo Jo Zepp and the Falcons. It is hard to believe that this wonderful building has had such a varied life. We would like to put together a 'Back to the Weir' celebration and would love to hear your stories.
In 1898, prominent Mundaring brothers Fred and Mathieson Jacoby built the low-roofed, single-storey “Reservoir Hotel” to service the newly assembled Mundaring Weir construction workforce. The land on which the hotel was built had, since the early 1880’s, been owned by former Guildford store manager, John Allpike. The first lessee of the hotel was Laurence Burke, followed in 1902, by William Lamb. Even after the Weir construction workforce moved away, the hotel thrived, due to its location halfway between the two Goldfield’s Water Supply pumping stations and nearby to the 'Karda Mordo' railway platform and the houses of the men working on the maintenance of the water supply.
From 1903, when the weir first overflowed, the re-named 'Goldfields Weir Hotel', enjoyed patronage from sightseers as well as locals. Sometime in the period 1904-7, Fred Jacoby took over the running of the hotel, and added a two storey section to the front of the 1898 building. A postal agency operated here from c.1907. Also in 1907, he was able to open the bar on Sundays, and in 1909, when the Western Australian Government Railways took over the Weir line, the tourist trade increased rapidly. Aside from a short period during World War I when the Weir was off limits to civilians, excursion trains remained popular until the advent of World War II. As evidenced by advertisements in the “Motorist and Wheelman”, the 1920’s saw an increase in motor traffic coming to the hotel. The hotel was later run by Fred Jacoby's daughter, Elfreda Devenish.
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