The Boomerang Hotel – both the 63-year-old current building and the hotels that preceded it on the site – has a remarkable history in Mackay.
The Boomerang Hotel was built around 1961 by Basil and Bill Wright, Hugh Reilly and Fred Storey on land on the eastern side of Nebo Road near the City Gates, opposite the Lagoons. It was the first hotel in the district to offer motel-type accommodation.
An advertisement in 1975 for the Boomerang Motor Hotel in the Australian Sugar Journal highlighted the hotel’s excellent location.
“The Boomerang Motor Hotel is situated at the gates of the City of Mackay, three miles from the heart of the city and approximately three miles to the airport, from which you can go to the beautiful island resorts of the Whitsunday Passage only a few minutes away by plane.”
The ad continued: “Friday and Saturday is a great night, along with the best in foods, wine as first-class entertainment. Tropical lawn barbecue available on request.”
The hotel underwent some renovations over the years. In ‘Pubs of Mackay 1862-1962’ Glen Hall notes that extensive renovations were undertaken in 1976, and the public bar was named Bernborough Bar. A pool for guests was also built.
The site on which the Boomerang sits has a long and fascinating history. The Railway Hotel was built by William Hoey for John Gordon who applied for a licence in the latter half of 1883. The Railway was the first hotel built on this site.
The new hotel was built next door to Thomas Hoey’s Hibernian Hotel. Its location, notes the Mackay Historical Society (MHS), was supposedly to take advantage of the new Mackay to Eton Railway line which was under construction.
We learn something of the new hotel and its owner John Gordon’s ambitions from an advertisement placed in the Mackay Mercury and South Kennedy Advertiser on 24 September 1884 announcing the new Railway Hotel.
“John Gordon respectfully begs to inform his friends and the public generally that he has opened the above new premises as a first-class hotel built two stories high, specially for the tropics, with spacious verandah, top and bottom.
“From its delightful situation it cannot be surpassed. The proprietor is determined that nothing shall be wanting on his part to make the ideal comfort for travellers and families.”
Gordon also flagged its convenience for horse owners.
“First class stables, seven private [horse] boxes, thoroughly suitable for training horses for the coming races. The hotel stables… have been highly approved of by trainers and owners of racehorses.”
He closed the ad by noting that “the best brands of wines and spirits only kept in stock”.
The hotel next door, the Hibernian Hotel, was reputedly located next door to the Caledonian Hotel on Nebo Road. Owned by Irish-born Thomas Hoey the Hibernian was to be a meeting place for Irish immigrants in the area, says the Mackay Historical Society.
Around 1887 the Railway Hotel was renamed the Caledonian Hotel presumably, says the MHS, to attract customers of Scottish background while “the Irishmen went next door”.
The hotel was advertised for auction in 1886 along with an adjoining blacksmith shop. “It seems that it was unable to compete with the Caledonian Hotel situated next door,” says the MHS.
The Caledonian Hotel survived some tough years. It was badly damaged during a cyclone which hit Mackay in February 1888 and, 19 years later, on the morning of 20 March 1907, was a victim of an arson attempt. Residents and the then licensee were able to put out the fires on both floors. The hotel suffered about 40 pounds worth of damage.
We know a little of the lives of some of the Caledonian Hotel’s later licensees, and the challenges they faced running a hotel, especially one strongly associated with guests stabling their horses at the property.
On 9 January 1897 the Mackay Mercury reported on an application made by Andrew Cashin “for permission to sell a horse left on his premises by a boarder on August 26th 1896”.
The Cashins, who owned and managed several hotels around Queensland, were well-known local pioneers in the Mackay district.
In the hearing, the paper said, “Andrew Cashin… stated that on August 26th a man named Ted Grace came to board at his hotel. Grace had a black horse and a chestnut mare with him; the mare’s name was Graceful. A man named Costigan was with Grace. Costigan worked there with Grace four days…”
Without notifying Cashin, Grace left the property, taking the black horse with him, leaving the chestnut, and owing Cashin for “board and refreshment”. The cost for the care of the remaining chestnut was also considered. It was agreed Cashin could sell the chestnut to recover these costs.
On 23 February 1932 the Bowen Independent published an obituary for Andrew’s wife Bridget May Cashin.
“She was born in Ireland and came to Australia in the sailing ship ‘Scottish Prince’ forty-five years ago, landing at Townsville and afterwards going to Mackay,” it said.
Bridget married Andrew Cashin and “they afterwards took over the Caledonian Hotel, Mackay, and later went to the Eugelia gold diggings where they opened a hotel which they conducted for a number of years. They returned to Mackay and re-purchased the Caledonian Hotel.”
The obituary said: “The funeral was well attended as a mark of respect for an old pioneer of this district.”
In the late 1800s, under the management of Andrew and Bridget Cashin, the hotel on this site welcomed guests inside whose horses were well stabled out the back.
Today the Boomerang Hotel continues that welcoming tradition. It is a much-loved local. It offers pub classics in the revitalised bistro, a new Sports Bar with big screens, a newly renovated Gaming Room and budget-friendly accommodation, all within a 10-minute drive to Mackay Airport.