History Notes - Commercial Hotel

The first hotel on the site seems to have been Markham’s Hotel, which was run by Daniel Markham.
Hotel Licensees

 March, 1878 - 1879    Daniel Markham

 1880                           Richard Thame

 1880 - 1881                Richard Thame  (hotel named Commercial)

1881 - 1882                 Richard Thame
Richard Thame bought the hotel circa 1880.  He was responsible for the brick building.  The McKechnie brothers are said to have constructed a new single storey hotel in the mid -1880s.

The Thame’s second daughter, Mary Annie, married John Banfield in February, 1883.  There were three children born to the young couple who ran the local Post Office.  About 1890, John Banfield left his wife and family, and Barraba.  Annie then worked with her parents at the hotel.

Richard Thame died suddenly at Ironbark Creek on 15th May, 1894 at the age of 59 years and his daughter, Annie Banfield, took over the license of the Hotel.

The coaches which ran regularly from Tamworth to Warialda stopped at the Commercial Hotel in the 1880s and early 1890s.  In 1891 Wilkinsons took over the license of the Central Hotel and managed to take the coaches there.  Three years later the coach stop was returned to the Commercial.
Noted in 1902 - Annie Banfield in charge of the Commercial - she was agent for the Royal Mail coaches.  Also offered was a sampling room (drinks?) and advertised plunge and shower baths as well as the best brands of Wines, Spirits, etc.

Early in the 1900s Annie had the hotel enlarged.  This is most probably when the second storey was added.  The second storey was visible in photos taken in April, 1904, to mark the occasion of the first Show held in Barraba. 
Annie’s children were grown up by this time and in 1906 or early in 1907, she sold the license and left Barraba - she actually still owned the Hotel building at the time of her death in 1939.

The next licensee appears to have been Robert Otto Rabe, local businessman and tobacconist, who advertised in the local paper in January, 1910 “so long famous for its cuisine and cellar, is still unrivalled in the north.”  On 24th May, 1923, Robert Otto Rabe, was still advertising the Commercial Hotel as “the leading house”.  Unfortunately, Mr Rabe died on 29th March, 1925 at the age of 60 years.

By July of that year (1925) Michael Casimaty held the license.  Casimaty appears in the local press as a butcher in 1930 and by 1932 was declared bankrupt so it is unlikely that he held the license for long.  W.T. Madden held the license in April, 1942 and Daniel O’Connell held the license in December, 1945, but there is no continuous list of licensees for the Commercial Hotel after 1925.

Later in July, 1978, the Commercial Hotel caught fire and there was extensive damage to the upper storey which was later restored.