With Orr Street done and dusted, we were off into a few of the side streets of the Queenstown CBD. We began by wandering south along Bowes Street until we came to the intersection with Cutten Street, which parallels Orr and is one block south.
From here, looking off towards Mount Owen, still cloud enshrouded, it was obvious that beyond this point the CBD proper came to an abrupt end and suburbia took over.
It was quite a different story in the opposite direction where a few interesting looking buildings demanded closer attention.
The first of these was this fine looking building which had all the appearances of being a church.
Indeed the foundation stone, laid by none other than the mine's main man in late 1899, showed that this was once correct, but then we took a closer look.
The white sign between the church building and the quaint little wooden cottage next door, and the small badge on the wall between the two front doors told a different story. Both proclaimed this to now be the HQ of the Queenstown CWA. Where were the good country ladies....where were the ribbon sandwiches, the scones and the current cake? The doors were shut tight and there was not a soul about. We had obviously wandered by on the wrong day!
Refreshment was at hand however, but not quite yet. Further along Cutten Street stood another common country town institution, the Masonic Lodge, which here in Queenstown was clearly a 'work in progress'.
By now we had strolled sufficiently south to have reached the intersection of Cutten and Stitch Streets, and here we turned off the road and rambled across the open and empty car park and into the Queenstown RSL.
Local law demanded that we sign in, and once that was done we made our way into the halls of the establishment to see what we could find.
It turned out to be one of the better RSLs we had visited. Many excellent displays
decorated most walls,
the dining area could accommodate many at table,
and the bar was equally large and well equipped.
What else could one do.......there was nothing for it, but please note....a pot not a pint!
So. after a pleasant interlude, a few frothies and a good chat to a most welcoming bar lady and a few of the locals, it was back to the prowl refreshed and raring to go.
The size of the Queenstown Court House was indicative of the fact that this town is the hub of the west coast,
but we did think that a little more effort could have been taken on its upkeep. Hardly a good advertisement for a reasonable respect for the law and good public order!
but we did think that a little more effort could have been taken on its upkeep. Hardly a good advertisement for a reasonable respect for the law and good public order!
Our continuing stroll along Cutten Street then took us past this very well maintained but somewhat innocuous looking cottage complex. Don't be fooled.
The accommodation provided here at the Mount Lyell Anchorage, for about $170 a night, receives rave reviews.
Right turn into McNamara Street......we were heading back to the Empire Hotel, but we had another stop to make en route, at the Paragon Theatre.
Once again, the rather drab exterior, with its huge mountain mural on one side wall, does not do real justice to what this building offers.
I have to confess we had not done any prior reading about this old theatre and may well have cruised on past, but the large sign advertising tours did grab our attention. This must surely mean that there is something of real interest to be found here. There was.
Let me invite you up these interestingly patterned entrance stairs and into the 'Paragon Story',
one which so convincingly demonstrates the spirit of recovery, refurbishment and revival which is alive and well in Queenstown. I have reproduced it here directly from the Paragon Theatre website.
"Built at a cost of over 5000 pounds by the Paragon Picture Co Pty Ltd as a "talkie theatre", the Paragon Theatre officially opened on October 28, 1933. A capacity house of 1150 were enthralled by Mae West in "She Done Him Wrong" and Edward G. Robinson in "Tiger Shark."
The theatre enjoyed capacity crowds for decades until the
emergence of home video hire in the late 1970's. Patronage declined to the
point where the theatre closed its doors in 1985. Soon after, the building was
gutted of all ground floor seating and more than half of the dress circle was
demolished to house an indoor cricket stadium. Within a few years, that
also closed and the theatre was abandoned and left to its fate.
In 2003 Dr Alex Stevenson took on the mammoth task of restoring
the building to reopen it as a 60 seat luxury cinema. Alex, and later new wife
Alice, spent 4 years on restoration, including hand painting the entire floor
to resemble marble.
In 2012 they returned to their home country of Zimbabwe passing
the mantle on to Francisco Navidad but with the decline in Queenstown's
population "Cisco" took the tough decision to close the Paragon
in 2014 and put the property back on the market. In July 2017 we begin our
journey to return this gem of Queenstown's history into a thriving
entertainment venue for locals and visitors to enjoy once again.
Joy Chappell & Anthony Coulson"
Did you note the bit about hand painting the floor?
I was graciously give permission to wander inside and take a few shots (as opposed to embarking on an official tour....we were a little time poor at this point), and although the results were reasonable, I have resorted to reproducing a photo from the website because it does far more justice to the result of this labour of love than that which emerged from my low key camera.
Repainting this large floor was just the beginning. Again, from Joy and Anthony's wonderful website:
"Restoring old buildings always turns up problems you don't expect. We knew we had a problem with the floor but were shocked to find out what was causing it and how urgent the situation had become.
When we bought The Paragon in July 2017, there were
some cracks in the concrete floor and we could see that it was sinking
in places but as we couldn't access it we assumed that there was
probably water getting in underneath and washing the soil away in
places. What else could it be, right?
Over winter we noticed that it was getting worse and new, significant cracks had appeared.
We had to investigate so we engaged some engineers
from Hobart to find out exactly what was happening. They came and
drilled some holes in the slab and what they discovered was beyond
belief.
The original floor, built in 1933 was timber. It was
tiered down from the foyer to about 1/3 of the way down the hall. The
rest of the floor was flat. In 1985, when the theatre closed, it was
repurposed as an indoor cricket stadium and this is where the problem
started. The tiered part of the timber floor was removed and the cavity
filled with slag from the mine. The remaining timber floor was left in
place. The whole lot was covered in plastic and the concrete slab poured
on top. Thankfully, the concrete was reinforced.
Over the 33 years since then, the timber floor has
slowly decayed until now it has almost completely collapsed, leaving 2/3
of our beautiful hand-painted floor virtually suspended in mid-air. The
engineers have advised us to remove everything off that part of the
floor and stay off it as much as possible. So now the race is on to get
it fixed before it collapses and to enable us to re-open this season.
Fixing the floor involves drilling 80 holes, 162mm diameter, throughout the floor. Steel rods, rebar, will then be driven down to bedrock and a concrete base formed around that. The floor will then be jacked up to the original level and stumped into place. This will ensure that it stays strong forever."
The cost for all this?..........$68,000!!
This enterprising couple have noted that they have bought a 'money pit', but they remain undeterred.
This is but one of the enterprising ventures being used to raise the necessary funds. We were particularly peeved when we read this.....we were standing here on a Sunday, our last day in Queenstown!
Another fund raising scheme involves selling personalised circular huon pine caps to cover the holes which had to be drilled through the floor. And so on.
What a committed and creative couple. The Paragon Theatre has been embedded firmly on our 'Tassie to do list' for our inevitable return visit.
And so, from one amazing Queenstown building to another. We were finally off to properly visit 'The Empire', seen this time looking down the side of the building along McNamara Street.
As we made our way up the steps in the imposing front entrance
I turned to capture the view which took in the War Memorial, Miners' Siding and the old Evans Store at the far end of Driffield Street with Mount Lyell in the background. Queenstown incorporated!
As I have mentioned earlier, this hotel (one could hardy refer to this establishment as a 'pub'....indeed it is commonly referred to as 'The Grand Old Lady of the West'!) was built in 1901. A local lad from Zeehan did the job for the developers Parer and Higgins.
The main feature of this beautiful hotel is its staircase, made from Tasmanian blackwood, which in itself does not sound too surprising. But what I did find incredible, and a real reflection on the wealth of the town at the time, was the fact that the raw timber was shipped off to England, carved by British artisans, and sent back to Queenstown for installation. It came as no surprise to find it is listed on the National Trust.
It is truly stunning.
has two access points
and was as hard as hell to properly capture through my little lens.
But I have to say, having trawled the Internet, I remain pretty satisfied with the outcome of my endeavours, although I have included this photo (courtesy 'tripadvisor') taken from the top of the stairway. Given this area was boldly signed as being for 'Resident Guests Only' I did not feel inclined to sneak up for my own shot.
This marvellous staircase really sets the tone for the entire interior, one we just loved.
There we little nooks and crannies everywhere (all difficult to photograph I might add). Magnificent carpets, leather chesterfields (and a sense of humour) abounded.
Cosy private dining areas were available for those wit a yen for that intimate group dinner,
whilst for those happy in the herd, the main dining room presented a trip back in time.
We were not the only travelling celebrities to have graced this grand gourmand gathering place.
I've taken the trouble to blow up the menu as well as I could because to me it just said it all about the wealth of the town, the importance of the guest and the fine food of the era. Remember.....this was lunch!
It does deserve another explanatory editorial note.
I suspect any from South Australia reading this closely would see the 'Fish' course was 'trumpeter' and recoil in horror. Let me put you at ease. The large Tasmanian 'stripey trumpeter' is absolutely delicious and a most prized catch. It could not be more unlike that which is hauled from SA waters where the small fish we know as trumpeter are widely and very rightly known as 'shitties'.....they are spectacularly horrid.
We did dine here later, and can happily confirm that the many posted positive critiques about the meals here were correct. Our plates were laden with fine fare provided at a reasonable price.
And what's a good dinner if not preceded by an aperitif or two.
Here in this grand and charming hotel we could have been sitting in our own lounge room!
But wait, there's more before we leave 'The Empire'.
You may recall the names of the partners for whom this hotel was built were Parer and Higgins. They were, respectively, the forebears of that famous and madly brave WW2 battle field photographer Damien Parer (who did much to expose the horrors of the Kakoda Track and who was later killed filming the American invasion of Peleliu) and, in complete contrast, the present day Australian singer, Missy Higgins.
So with that snippet, which could possibly be filed under the 'too much information' heading, but which I found the sort of fascinating tit bit which makes this travel lark such fun, we say farewell to the Queenie CBD.
The West Coast Wilderness Railway, the Gordon River cruise and a day trip north to Zeehan and the wild west coast at Trial Harbour are all waiting in the wings.
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