Noojee Hotel - History



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Sydney Wentworth Smith was born 20th December 1880 in Wentworth, New South Wales. Sydney's parents Rev Robert Johnstone Smith and Cherrie Smithwick Pennefather had 6 children in which Sydney was the second youngest. Sydney married Mary Margaret Quirk in 1918 and had one son Ian Johnstone Smith. Sydney was later divorced and he remarried Ruby Adams of Noojee. Sydney owned several hotels in the area such as the Robin Hood Roadhouse at Drouin and Gippsland Hotel in Bunyip. Sydney passed away at the age of 59 years on the 16th December 1939 in Hepburn Springs and he is buried at the Warragul Cemetery.

All information supplied by :
Family Tracing Service
P.O.Box 147
Bunyip Vic 3815
Ph. 0409553346
www.familytracingservice.com

The Noojee Hotel was first opened on the 7th September 1925 by owner Sydney Wentworth Smith predominately for the growing timber Industry, as a source of accommodation and consumption of Beer.

14 months after its establishment it survived the 1926 bush fires and when the 1939 Black Wednesday bush fires devastated the town, it took on the roll of local school and most other general businesses in town until they were re-established.

Jack Kelly was a local from Powelltown, I recently had the pleasure of meeting Jack, hosting his 80th birthday at The Noojee Hotel, it was a fun day full of old tales and exciting information about the Hotel from so many years ago – as he told me the dinosaur was made out of Bull Ferns harvested from Big Creek Rd, via The Ada Tree in the late 1950’s, along with a joint venture with Ronnie Costin’s and Clem Dunn. The teeth were made from the same material that made artificial limbs and Jack provided from a factory in Chelsea, Victoria.

The dinosaur in his glory stood around 12 foot high, and can still be viewed in the paddock at the side of the Hotel.

New owners Mick & Lisa are keen to resurrect Dino, the Dinosaur to his former glory and iconic familiarity not only to the hotel but also the Noojee community.

Excert from the "Outback Magazine"
(issue 65 - June/July 2009) Story by Martin Auldist

Lisa Willems clearly remembers calling into the Noojee Hotel as a young girl during regular snow-skiing trips to Mount Baw Baw, Vic, with her parents. “Mum and Dad always made a point of dropping into the Noojee Pub after skiing,” Lisa says. “Dad would drink in the bar, but Mum and I would have to wait in the ‘Ladies Room'. I got to become very familiar with the place.” That was in 1973 and, back then, Lisa could never have imagined she and future husband Mick would one day own the hotel.

Lisa and Mick purchased the Noojee Hotel three years ago and the pub is a focal point for locals of Noojee, in West Gippsland. The bulk of the pub's business, however, comes from passing trade. Nestled among the white gums on the banks of the Latrobe River in the Baw Baw foothills, the hotel makes a welcome resting and meeting place for lovers of the great outdoors. Fittingly, the meaning of the Aboriginal word Noojee is “place of rest”.

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“We get all types here,” Lisa says. “The area is perfect for skiers, dirt-bike riders, horse riders, bushwalkers, hunters, four-wheel-drivers and birdwatchers – they all drop by for a drink or a meal, especially on weekends or holidays. There's good trout fishing here, too, and the river's only a long cast from the back verandah.”

A large undercover deck out the back of the hotel, which Mick built himself, helps the country atmosphere along. The verandah overlooks the expansive grassy grounds and, beyond that, the picturesque Latrobe River. There are even tame kookaburras on the handrail that the kids will enjoy feeding.

Publican Sydney Wentworth Smith first built the pub in 1925. Since there was no power a waterwheel was built and, against the regulations of the day, deployed in the Latrobe River to provide power for an illegal gambling house.

“The original owner used the gambling house to entertain gangsters from Melbourne,” Mick says. “Local legend has it that Squizzy Taylor was among those who frequented the Noojee Hotel, shortly before his death in 1927.”