Open/Close Toolbox
Format: Motels & Guesthouses
Linked To
LocalityPhotographPostcardPeople & FamilyArticle & ManuscriptOral HistoryAudioEphemeraHeritage Library Catalogue
HERITAGE NOOSA
Menu
Royal Mail Hotel
DETAILS
Additional Information
The current Royal Mail Hotel was constructed in 1940 following a catastrophic fire that destroyed the two-storey timber hotel that existed on the site previously. The first Royal Mail Hotel was built on this site in February 1882, for Ned Murdock, the driver of Cobb & Co's coach. It was built by Smith, White and Saunders and was opened quietly in May 1882, ‘without the house-warming usual in such cases’ (The Week 1882). The Royal Mail was always a well-kept and respected accommodation venue, and it was renovated and extended from time to time to keep it up-to-date and of a high standard. John E. Kinmond, an early timber getter and bullock driver operating in the Kin Kin scrubs, was licensee by 1888. He then sold to Major J. Myles in 1889, who in turn sold to John Tait.
The Tait families were quite prominent in Tewantin's local history, Mrs Tait being the widow of Jimmy Miles, a former Cobb and Co manager. A Hotel transport consisting of buggies and coaches, for the use of hotel patrons, met the trains at Cooroy once the rail line had reached there in 1891, a service claimed to have been `... a first for the area’. A bathhouse was constructed in 1895 and the hotel was further enlarged in 1896. In 1930, the hotel was sold to John Donovan, the father of Lionel Donovan, who operated a cinema in Tewantin for many years. He undertook major additions and renovations and it became known as Donovan’s’ Royal Mail Hotel. Donovan died in 1935 and his widow sold the business to the Queensland Brewery in 1936.
In 1939, the Royal Mail was totally destroyed in a spectacular fire. It was rebuilt in 1941, by Stanley Samuel Garrick to a design prepared by architects G. H. M Addison & Son and H. S. M. Macdonald (Construction 1943) and officially reopened in 1941. A 1943 feature article in the Master Builders' Federation of Australia, Building and Engineering Journal, described the new building in some detail; https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-319042287
“In this two storied building completed before the ban on building took effect, the main structure consists of a spacious lounge, a bar, dining room and culinary, and the staff living quarters.
Constructed of brick throughout, with tiled roof, the all-too-common worship of “modernity”, has not been allowed, here, to dispense with so essential a climatic need as verandahs. These, which overlooked the waterways are ample in all respects, and are tiled in terra cotta, both on the ground floor and in the upper story.
The bedrooms, opening out onto the verandahs, are provided with hot and cold water, and the provision of bath and toilet rooms are ample in number, and in keeping with a well serviced hotel.
The second building, given over as it is to bedrooms and connected to the main structure by covered ways, took into account the possible need of closing it up during the slack period of the year, common to seaside resorts, but judging by the experience of the last few years, the convenience of fast road travel has eliminated these heretofore slack periods at any time of the year.
The water supply is drawn from wells, from which it is pumped to overhead tanks; and electric light and power is generated by a plant situated on the premises. Lock-up garage accommodation is provided on a scale compatible with a first-class tourist resort. When peace returns this is a place where it can be enjoyed!”
The noted architectural firm Addison & Macdonald, active between 1927 and 1947, undertook a number of hotel projects for the Queensland Brewery (also known as Bulimba Brewery), as well as substantial public and other buildings throughout Queensland. Addison initially entered into practice with his father, a noted Queensland Architect, in 1919 as G H M Addison and Son. He entered a partnership with H.S. MacDonald from 1928-1946. Their combined works include the Bulk Store, and offices of Castlemaine Perkins, 418 Adelaide Street and at Castlemaine Brewery, Milton(1928-1929), the English Scottish & Australian Bank Building and Queensland National Bank Buildings Brisbane (1929), renovations to Hotel Orient and other Castlemaine Perkins hotels including Belfast Hotel in Queen Street, Brisbane, Hotel Cecil in Southport, Caledonian Hotel in Ipswich, Leichhardt Hotel in Spring Hill, National Hotel in Warwick, Governor Blackall Hotel in Toowoomba, Newtown Hotel in Toowoomba (1937 onwards), Goondiwindi Civic Centre (1937) Addison was also a Director of Castlemaine Perkins.
The Royal Mail Hotel today is a two-storey masonry building on the corner of Poinciana Avenue and Diyan Street in Tewantin. The style of the building is probably best characterised as inter-war functionalist with Art Deco motifs. It is a timber framed building with a textured rendered finish with what were originally face brick (now painted) features creating banding to the columns, dark windows sills and staggered corner mouldings. The footprint creates an L-Shaped plan with verandahs along the east and southern facades fronting the corner with horizontal balustrading contributing to the visual emphasis created by the horizontal brick banding. The roof is of terracotta Marseilles tiles and, early photos indicate it may have featured a pattern of lighter roof tiles interspersed amongst the terracotta tiles. The original lettering spelling out “Royal Mail” in a painted, flat finished, render remains to this day.. Additions at the front include a covered walkway along the east facing ground floor verandah and a pavilion addition in what was the forecourt created by the L-shape of the building.
The second building which was to the north of the current hotel is visible in aerial images taken in the 1950s and 1960s but by the time the hotel was extended in the 1990s these had been removed or demolished.
The Royal Mail Hotel is a place of local historical, typological, aesthetic and spiritual significance in the Noosa Region. It reflects the evolution and development of hotel services in the Noosa region and is a relatively rare example of a mid-century corner hotel in the shire. Its architectural style, popular in the 1930s-1950s, denoted the epitome of modernity and progressiveness.
The Royal Hotel is also important locally for its special association with Tait and Donovan, who owned and managed the hotel at different times. Both were key figures in the early development of the Noosa River area for tourism and the development of transport routes linking the area to the North Coast railway. The Royal Mail Hotel site is a special place of social and recreational activities in Noosa Shire, as it has been since the first hotel was constructed on the site in 1882.
Heritage ListingNoosa Local Heritage RegisterAddress118,Poinciana Avenue,Tewantin
The current Royal Mail Hotel was constructed in 1940 following a catastrophic fire that destroyed the two-storey timber hotel that existed on the site previously. The first Royal Mail Hotel was built on this site in February 1882, for Ned Murdock, the driver of Cobb & Co's coach. It was built by Smith, White and Saunders and was opened quietly in May 1882, ‘without the house-warming usual in such cases’ (The Week 1882). The Royal Mail was always a well-kept and respected accommodation venue, and it was renovated and extended from time to time to keep it up-to-date and of a high standard. John E. Kinmond, an early timber getter and bullock driver operating in the Kin Kin scrubs, was licensee by 1888. He then sold to Major J. Myles in 1889, who in turn sold to John Tait.
The Tait families were quite prominent in Tewantin's local history, Mrs Tait being the widow of Jimmy Miles, a former Cobb and Co manager. A Hotel transport consisting of buggies and coaches, for the use of hotel patrons, met the trains at Cooroy once the rail line had reached there in 1891, a service claimed to have been `... a first for the area’. A bathhouse was constructed in 1895 and the hotel was further enlarged in 1896. In 1930, the hotel was sold to John Donovan, the father of Lionel Donovan, who operated a cinema in Tewantin for many years. He undertook major additions and renovations and it became known as Donovan’s’ Royal Mail Hotel. Donovan died in 1935 and his widow sold the business to the Queensland Brewery in 1936.
In 1939, the Royal Mail was totally destroyed in a spectacular fire. It was rebuilt in 1941, by Stanley Samuel Garrick to a design prepared by architects G. H. M Addison & Son and H. S. M. Macdonald (Construction 1943) and officially reopened in 1941. A 1943 feature article in the Master Builders' Federation of Australia, Building and Engineering Journal, described the new building in some detail; https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-319042287
“In this two storied building completed before the ban on building took effect, the main structure consists of a spacious lounge, a bar, dining room and culinary, and the staff living quarters.
Constructed of brick throughout, with tiled roof, the all-too-common worship of “modernity”, has not been allowed, here, to dispense with so essential a climatic need as verandahs. These, which overlooked the waterways are ample in all respects, and are tiled in terra cotta, both on the ground floor and in the upper story.
The bedrooms, opening out onto the verandahs, are provided with hot and cold water, and the provision of bath and toilet rooms are ample in number, and in keeping with a well serviced hotel.
The second building, given over as it is to bedrooms and connected to the main structure by covered ways, took into account the possible need of closing it up during the slack period of the year, common to seaside resorts, but judging by the experience of the last few years, the convenience of fast road travel has eliminated these heretofore slack periods at any time of the year.
The water supply is drawn from wells, from which it is pumped to overhead tanks; and electric light and power is generated by a plant situated on the premises. Lock-up garage accommodation is provided on a scale compatible with a first-class tourist resort. When peace returns this is a place where it can be enjoyed!”
The noted architectural firm Addison & Macdonald, active between 1927 and 1947, undertook a number of hotel projects for the Queensland Brewery (also known as Bulimba Brewery), as well as substantial public and other buildings throughout Queensland. Addison initially entered into practice with his father, a noted Queensland Architect, in 1919 as G H M Addison and Son. He entered a partnership with H.S. MacDonald from 1928-1946. Their combined works include the Bulk Store, and offices of Castlemaine Perkins, 418 Adelaide Street and at Castlemaine Brewery, Milton(1928-1929), the English Scottish & Australian Bank Building and Queensland National Bank Buildings Brisbane (1929), renovations to Hotel Orient and other Castlemaine Perkins hotels including Belfast Hotel in Queen Street, Brisbane, Hotel Cecil in Southport, Caledonian Hotel in Ipswich, Leichhardt Hotel in Spring Hill, National Hotel in Warwick, Governor Blackall Hotel in Toowoomba, Newtown Hotel in Toowoomba (1937 onwards), Goondiwindi Civic Centre (1937) Addison was also a Director of Castlemaine Perkins.
The Royal Mail Hotel today is a two-storey masonry building on the corner of Poinciana Avenue and Diyan Street in Tewantin. The style of the building is probably best characterised as inter-war functionalist with Art Deco motifs. It is a timber framed building with a textured rendered finish with what were originally face brick (now painted) features creating banding to the columns, dark windows sills and staggered corner mouldings. The footprint creates an L-Shaped plan with verandahs along the east and southern facades fronting the corner with horizontal balustrading contributing to the visual emphasis created by the horizontal brick banding. The roof is of terracotta Marseilles tiles and, early photos indicate it may have featured a pattern of lighter roof tiles interspersed amongst the terracotta tiles. The original lettering spelling out “Royal Mail” in a painted, flat finished, render remains to this day.. Additions at the front include a covered walkway along the east facing ground floor verandah and a pavilion addition in what was the forecourt created by the L-shape of the building.
The second building which was to the north of the current hotel is visible in aerial images taken in the 1950s and 1960s but by the time the hotel was extended in the 1990s these had been removed or demolished.
The Royal Mail Hotel is a place of local historical, typological, aesthetic and spiritual significance in the Noosa Region. It reflects the evolution and development of hotel services in the Noosa region and is a relatively rare example of a mid-century corner hotel in the shire. Its architectural style, popular in the 1930s-1950s, denoted the epitome of modernity and progressiveness.
The Royal Hotel is also important locally for its special association with Tait and Donovan, who owned and managed the hotel at different times. Both were key figures in the early development of the Noosa River area for tourism and the development of transport routes linking the area to the North Coast railway. The Royal Mail Hotel site is a special place of social and recreational activities in Noosa Shire, as it has been since the first hotel was constructed on the site in 1882.
Heritage ListingNoosa Local Heritage RegisterAddress118,Poinciana Avenue,TewantinPhotograph
Postcard
Article & Manuscript
Oral History
Ephemera
Heritage Library Catalogue
Royal Mail Hotel. Heritage Noosa, accessed 13/11/2025, https://heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/12191
