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THE classic art deco Grand Hotel at Goomeri in Queensland was re-built in 1943 after the original pub was destroyed in a tragic fire that killed the publican and his wife, a barmaid, and five guests on December 23, 1939. Goomeri Village is located in the wine region of the South Burnett, at the junction of the Wide Bay Highway from the coast and Gympie and the Burnett Highway, between Brisbane and Gladstone. The 1939 fire claimed many lives. Eight years later, the Boonara Hotel, which was located opposite the Grand Hotel, was also totally destroyed by fire in 1947. No one was hurt or killed in that blaze. Unlike the Grand Hotel, the Boonara was never rebuilt. Source: timegents.com/2018/05/29/grand-hotel-goomeri/

Thursday, August 24th 1911 Source: Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser Qld. Thursday 24th August 1911 Page 3 - NOTES BY THE WAY. The "Boonara Hotel," so ably conducted by Mr. J. Murphy, one time of Murgon, is an exceedingly attractive and new two-storey structure and built throughout with the most careful attention to both comfort and strict sanitation. The fine 12ft wide balcony veranda is not the least of its many attractive features, and the yards, stabling and outbuildings attached are each and all indicative of the good and farseeing management by a mastermind. Airiness combined with the most immaculate cleanliness, even to the smallest details, are conspicuous features which tend to more than confirm a first and highly favourable opinion of the bright-looking Boonara Hotel. Ref: trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/146286258?searchTerm=B...

Something mysterious about Royal Hotel. CHARTERS TOWERS' RICH HISTORY TOLD THROUGH GHOSTLY TALES The gold rush brought out the best and the worst in people according to history buff Jack Sim. Jack runs ghost tours in Brisbane and has recently brought the business to Charters Towers. He was attracted to the north Queensland town because of its rich and prosperous history; he says the town is full of ghost stories. Hotel home to grizzly tales The Royal Hotel is one of the stops on the ghost tour - a grand old building with a dark past. "It was here in 1901 that there was a dramatic and terribly violent incident that took place," Jack said. An estranged couple, the Cordays, met at the hotel. That was despite the fact that Mrs. Corday, and her friend who accompanied her, knew that Mr. Corday had violent intentions toward his wife following their separation. "He was unhappy with her extra-marital relationships," Jack recounted. "After leaving them to come into the bar here to get some drinks for his partner... he re-entered the room [but] instead of having drinks in his hand he held a revolver. "He shot her at virtually point-blank range in the head, and then took his own life in the bar." As the years went on it became well known around town that the dead couple haunted the pub. They are joined by one of the hotel's former proprietors, Mrs. McDonald, who owned the pub for 50 years. "The current owner of the hotel, she tells me that when she comes up the staircase she feels Mrs. McDonald walking right beside [her] as she comes up the stairs each day," he said. "Not in a bad way, she just feels like the lady that was her predecessor is just there with her, helping her to manage the hotel." Source: www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/05/11/4233354.htm

Located on the north-western corner of Victoria and Macalister Streets. The site is presently occupied by the modern Whitsunday Hotel. The original Vulcan Hotel was advertised by James Robb s being on this site and the hotel's name appeared to be changed to the "Victoria" by Robert Neill. The original Victoria Hotel was destroyed by fire on Friday 3 September 1897. It was rebuilt and badly damaged in the 1918 Cyclone. The present Whitsunday Hotel was built on the site of the old Victoria Hotel in 1966. It opened for business on May 6, 1966. Source: www.mackayhistory.org/research/hotels/hotels_l_to_z.html#...