While heading to Perth you will have to have driven past the Moorine Rock Hotel, you may have even stopped there for refreshment. Recently, courtesy of OFH reader Peter Green, I have been lucky enough to be given permission to post the following photographs of Moorine Rock and the hotel. With kind permission from Kath Hnatyszyn.
The Moorine Rock Hotel in the 1930s with a truck outside.
This is what Peter told me:- I called to see an old Army mate and his wife, Bob and Kath Hnatyszyn, and Kath said that her Grandfather had built the Moorine Rock Hotel and run it for some time. He had previously owned the Hotel Fremantle and had invested quite a sum of money into building the hotel and stores at Moorine Rock. He also had the Burbridge Hotel near Perth and he transferred the licence from the Burbridge Hotel to The Moorine Rock Hotel.
The Moorine Rock Hotel and Store in the 1930s
His name was Andrew David Lindbergh, his wife was Hilda Maria, and he was originally from either Sweden or
Norway. Sadly Mrs. Lindberg was to pass away in Jan of 1934. After Moorine Rock Mr. Lindberg moved to Crystal Brook in South Australia where he also ran or owned Hotels.
Sitting on the running board outside the Moorine Rock Hotel
Children on the running board of a car outside the Moorine Rock Hotel.
The only names Kath could remember were the older fellow with a mustache is Andrew David, the older lady Hilda Maria, and one of the children sitting on the running board of the car is Kath’s mother.
Old Car at Moorine Rock
Just one more thing on the Moorine Rock Hotel, there is a ‘Percy Black Memorial shield’ hanging on the wall, this shield was in honour of Major Black who joined up from Bullfinch for WW1. It appears that the local rifle shooting clubs would shoot for this prestigious shield each year, I a
The Percy Black memorial Shield
m not to sure when they ceased to do so. Well worth looking at if you are going past one day.
Percy Charles Herbert BLACK 16th Infantry Battalion from Southern Cross KIA.
One of the Goldfields famous early day explorers, Mr. Gus Luck, was granted a farming block at Moorine Rock, in the photograph below the fellow on the right with a mustache looks very similar to him, seeing that he also was either From Sweden or Norway there could be a possibility that it is him.
It’s not known as yet if the doorway they are standing in front of is at Moorine Rock or at the Edna May Hotel (now the Westonia Tavern) but we will find out. The fellow on the right does indeed look like Gus luck. The book about his adventures in the outback is a wonderful read.
The Outback Trail – by A.J. Luck
The Outback Trail by A J Luck – Available from Hesperian Press
Gus Luck was one of Western Australia’s most experienced bushmen when he met David Carnegie, who later wrote the classic Spinifex and Sand. He taught Carnegie his bushmanship and in The Outback Trail, he writes of his life and experiences in the bush, camels, natives, prospecting, people, and more, in a fascinating story of the 1880s to 1930s.
The Moorine Rock Hotel 2017
Moya Sharp
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