The Barraba Hotel in Windsor NSW

History Notes

This week was relatively quiet for members apart from continued sorting of historical papers and photos. One of our past visitors has donated her Taylor family history to our collection - it arrived in a large envelope last week and will have to be secured in a folder before becoming available at the museum.

We are still looking for a photo of Dr.Poggioli to join his wife - the only one we have is taken outside the hospital and is far too small to blow up successfully. Perhaps someone has a five by three or similar photo tucked away somewhere.

Last week we were tracing the history of the Barraba Hotel in Windsor, and assumed that it may have been the Bushell family who were early settlers of the Barraba/Horton/Gulf Creek area. The news here is that the Bushell's did not build or name the Barraba hotel in Windsor.

The Rev James Steele wrote a book "Early Days of Windsor" in which he listed all the early hotels - they are actually numbered and we find that Barraba was number 23 as follows:-

23.Barraba - This hotel stood on the corner opposite the Post Office, and was built by John Hoskisson about 1851. It was kept by Blanchard (1857), Reid and Seymore, and then in 1866/68 by Charles Beasley, who removed here from the White Hart, then Hopkins' (1869-73) and Miss Bushell (1873-74) when it was burnt down in the big fire.

Checking Campbell & Dowd's "Squatting on Crown Lands in New South Wales" - John Hoskisson, residing at Cornwallis, held the licence 117 for northern land, Brisbane and Bannaba (Barraba) Plains in the January, 1837, listed in the NSW Government Gazette.

Towards the middle of this publication there is another list of licences held in 1840 and John Hoskisson appears in this list, still with licence 117, "Barraba" to depasture stock. The Nandewar Historical Society's first booklet lists these early licences including Burindi, Foote, Pringle for example.

So now we know where the Barraba Hotel got its name but Barraba in the lower Hunter Valley is still a problem - if someone has a copy of Cecily Mitchell's Hunter's Valley, they may find it there but I no longer have a copy of this very interesting book.

The Society Annual General Meeting is coming up next month and memberships are now due for those who have not already joined for 2023/4. More about this next week.