CLUB HOUSE HOTEL
| Among the bustle of young Hindley Street in the 1830s, William Williams was one of South Australia’s first settlers, arriving aboard the Africaine in 1836. By 1837 he was appointed Deputy Storekeeper, responsible for the colony’s government supplies. Though he soon left this role to try his hand at brewing, an early venture that didn’t last, though he would revisit this later in life, his entrepreneurial spirit led him in another direction. In 1838, Williams purchased half of Town Acre 74, located between King William Street and Light Square on the southern side of Hindley Street. He engaged his brother-in-law, builder Edward Catchlove, to construct a hotel. The result was the Victoria Hotel, named after the colony’s young sovereign, Queen Victoria. From 1841 the building took on a different role, operating privately as the South Australian Club until 1845, when it was reopened to the public as the South Australian Club Hotel under publican William Lambert Jnr. Despite much fanfare at its launch, trade remained poor. In 1846 it was renamed the Club House Hotel, but the business continued to struggle and ultimately closed in 1852. The former hotel building later found new life as a drapery before eventually being demolished. Though short-lived, the Victoria Hotel remains a fascinating glimpse into Adelaide’s earliest hospitality ventures.  |
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| THE VICTORIA HOTEL | 1838 | 1841 |
| SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CLUB | 1841 | 1845 |
| SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CLUB HOTEL | 1845 | 1846 |
| CLUB HOUSE HOTEL | 1846 | 1852 |
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c1850
State Library [B 72463/113]
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| Publican Name | Start Date | Finish Date | Hotel |
| William WILLIAMS | 1838 | 1840 | The Victoria Hotel |
| William Gilchrist LAMBERT Jnr | 1845 | 1848 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| Edmund TRIMMER | 1848 | 1848 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| Andrew ROBERTSON | 1848 | 1850 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| Abraham WREN | 1850 | 1851 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| William Stephen JOHNSON | 1851 | 1851 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| Hamilton Comewall EMMETT | 1851 | 1851 | Clubhouse Hotel |
| James ALLEN | 1851 | 1852 | Clubhouse Hotel |