As the railways pushed south, licensed venues sprung up along the line. They catered to workmen in construction camps with a hard-earned thirst.
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And, as the railways pushed south, they changed the shape of society. Suddenly, a trip to Sydney took not days but hours. Products could be mail-ordered to arrive within the week.
Gunning was at the forefront of this.
What is now the Frankfield Hotel was once labelled a ‘Railway Hotel’, serving weary travellers.
Gunning’s story is just one of many Scott Whitaker has encountered.
He has spent the past 10 years visiting railway hotels.
Mr Whitaker’s grandfather had been an engine driver on railways in the Victorian era.
When Mr Whitaker came on the scene, his grandfather put every effort into converting him to his love of rail.
It was to no avail.
Instead, Mr Whitaker became an air traffic controller.
It was only when he was forced to retire early that his thoughts turned again to railways. It wasn’t the trains, however, that caught his interest.
Mr Whitaker needed a project, so he set off to have a beer at every railway hotel in Australia.
His quest has taken him far and wide, literally.
He thinks he has visited nearly every hotel ever labelled ‘Railway’.
At some, just the site exists, but to Mr Whitaker, this is no disappointment.
“I’ll often go and visit the site, and grab a stubby out of the esky, and sit down and celebrate the hotel that was there years ago,” he said.
And what began as a hobby has now become his passion.
“It’s been an amazing journey around the country, visiting people and documenting bits and pieces of Australian history that up until now haven’t been told before,” Mr Whitaker said.
“People of today don’t understand how important the railways were back then. How it changed so many people's lives, especially in country towns.”