Guests on verandah of Bellfield Hotel. Marshall White bought a licenced building from Armstrong (between Great Western & Ararat), moved it to the site of their house and, in 1924 opened it as an hotel. It remained a very popular hotel under many owners until completely gutted by fire in 1967. Currently (2011) the Grampians Motel stands on almost exactly the same site. By the clothing worn by the guest in the photo this was probably taken in the 1930's.Guest on verandah of of a long building. The verandah has a vine growing along it.Quality paper made in Germany Hl Gap 0380 NNNAAaccommodation, guesthouses, bellfield

The party of people approaching the steps include the Victorian Governor and his wife Lord and Lady SomersGuests arriving at Hotel with Flag outsideQuality paper made in Germany 1 copy B/W 1 copy Sepiaaccommodation, guesthouses, bellfield

Appears guest house completed at new locationGuest House built, garden not completed People on verandah and car beside buildingPhoto taken by Mr Holmesaccommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Myrtlebank before bridgeGuest House before bridge Appears to be taken from post card photoThe rose Series P 4971accommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Men in front of Myrtlebank Guesthouse.Four men on horseback and one man standing, in front of guest house108 m CNNA 10A06 Dec 99 Gold reef Photosaccommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Early stages of guest houseGuest House and grounds Driveway leading up to house has a wagon in foreground before the bridge was builtAgfa Quality paper made in Germanyaccommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Guest House and driveway leading up to it with a brdigeThe Rose Series P 10082accommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Photograph of Myrtlebank Guest House in Upper Halls GapGuest House and other buildings behind wooden fenceThe Rose Series P 13883accommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

She was a guest house called "Myrtlebank" and she was a very gracious old residence in a near perfect setting, surrounded by the towering peaks of the Grampian Mountains in Victoria. She was visited by thousands in her time, many of whom returned year after year to enjoy her hospitality. I first visited her 40 years ago and she won my heart from the moment I saw her. In those days, guest houses were in their prime - motels were unheard of. To this day, I can recall the delicious meals at "Myrtlebank" with pure country cream and home grown produce featuring largely. All the guests would gather in the enormous sitting rooms warmed by huge log fires in colder weather and , in the evenings, all sorts of games would be played, charades being first favourite with young and old alike. Several days a week a bus would pick up guests, along with those from other guest houses, and surrounding areas would be visited. Mostly, though, we walked - sometimes right across behind the Wonderland Range to Mount Victory. Now, "Myrtlebank" is no more. The site where she once stood is at the bottom of the Bellfield Lake, covered forever with fathoms of water. But I and many others will always remember and love her. Letter to paper with photograph of MyrtlebankSubmitted by Mrs O. Woolcock, Tottenham Vic who won $15 prize describing accomodation for guests at Myrtlebankaccommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Until the closure 40 years ago, the Myrtlebank Guesthouse near Halls Gap in the Grampians was a thriving family - run business. In 1962, all that changed when the government of the day purchased the land on which the guesthouse stood and some neighbouring farms and houses. For almost 40 Years, the remains of the buildings have been submered under the man made reservoir known as Lake Bellfield. Due to drought, the eater levels have dropped steadily and, in the past month, the memories underneath Lake Bellfield have come to the surface. Local resident Don warren 70, has been to have a look. His grandmother Anne Flower Warren, was 56 when she opened the guesthouse in 1916. Widowed, the year before after a horse kicked her farmer husband, Mrs Flower needed to provide for their large family. "She had 13 children - seven daughters. I think she built it to look after the girls," Mr Warren says, "The whole think was built on a 500 acre farm." With the guesthouse sited in the centre of the farm, the land was divided between two of her sons- Mr Warren's uncle working one side and his father taking the other. For Mr Warren, the grounds of the two-storey guesthouse were an extension of a huge rural playground in what he remembers as an idyllic childhood. "I used to get taken over there and I'd sit there and watch her make all the toast for the guests. It was quite full all the time - maybe 40 or 50 people. It was a great big place - very grand. In the bedrooms I can remember the great big bowls full of water to wash your face in. There was a big dining room, too. My grandmother was a great cook." By the time of Mrs Warren's death in 1936, her eldest daughter also Anne, had officially taken over the running of the business. "It was in the family right until the last bit. The youngest daughter, Auntie Hilda, took it over right at the end. they got a notice to say that's it - it's over There was no way out of that one." Mrs Ida Stanton, 78, is the historian for the Halls Gap and Grampians Historical Society. Can she remember it when it all happened? "Of course" she says "It's only 40 years ago" Her memories of Myrtlebank are of a place popular with honeymooners, who would often return year after year, bringing their families with them. "There was a lovely ballroom where they used to invite the Gap people and the tourists in to have balls. During the war it was one means of making money to send stuff over to the soldiers." Seeing just the stumps of the guesthouse and what had been his family home, Mr Warren says the bitterness is still there. "The hardest part was poor old dad. He was 70 years old when he got turfed out. Dad had been a farmer all his life - 214 acres, he had, and he got 22,000 quid. Had to move into town" Also showing beneath the drying lake is the concrete slab of the new home Mr Warren planned after his marriage to wife Anne in 1955. Another lost dream. " I was the only child, I was going to take over the farm, but that all changed. You can't take it over when it's full of water.Newspaper clipping of history of Myrtlebank by Don Warren and photo of Don at old site of pooland guest House photo Article by Claire Halliday from newspaper 2002accommodation, guesthouses, myrtlebank

Phot copy of Rose Series Post card no 4895 Titled Morningside GrampiansFront view of house, Woman and child on verandah, Man standing under tree, two people seated on deck chairs under tree Bungalow on right of photoThe Rose Series P 4895accommodation, guesthouses, morningside

Norval Guest-House Aginda and Wettenhall The original Norval The story of Norval begins in 1917 when it was built as a private residence for Mr and Mrs William Thompson. Mrs Thompson was a pioneer of the tourist business, having come from Ballarat to Hall's Gap in 1909 to manage Bellfield Guest-house According to Ida Stanton, in her history of Hall's Gap entitled "Bridging the Gap", Mr Thompson and his wife acquired the six roomed shearers quarters at "Hankelow", on land leased by the Wettenhall family, on the south side of Bellfield. Mr Thompson, she says, completely dismantled the quarters, carefully marking each board, then hired George McKeon to cart the material up to where the original Norval house stood. With great care, the rooms were rebuilt into a home for William and his wife Mathilda. Catherine Good, the daughter of Viola (nee Wettenhall) and niece of Dr Roland, in here "Recollections" entitled "Look to the Mountains - Viola's View 1887-1979", mentions Hankelow. Speaking of her days at Glen Holford, the Wettenhall home at Pomonal, Viola says "Verona and Francie Dennis, my cousins, and I went for one very exciting trip. Father (i.e Dr Roland's father) had bought 300 acres in the Gap to take sheep from Carr's Plains in time of drought, and had a little cottage there with one of the Glen Holford men and his wife in charge. It was called Hankelow. So we three set off over the Range from Glen Holford on foot and leading a pack horse with our night attire and no doubt sponge bags. "We stayed the night at Hankelow with Jim and Minnie. Minnie had been a housemaid at Glen Holford. I was very fond of her. It makes one laugh to think of the excitement of "roughing it"! Minnie gave us a lovely dinner with meringues, and cream, I remember, then early morning tea. After breakfast we were driven in the buggy to the foot of the Goat Rock (since renamed Mt Rosea) and off we went - walking in our long skirts and ankle boots. There was no track of any kind, nor blazed trail - we just made for the top. It was rather frightening at times because we couldn't see where the top was an it always seemed to get further and further away. The last mile was so terribly steep, with a lot of lose shale where you went up twelve inches and slipped back six. Now you motor to about a couple of miles from the top and then have a graded path. Anyway, we got there and back safely and were rewarded with a magnificent view" By a strange coincidence, Hankelow, the source of Norval Guest-house in times past (if the name can be applied to the property as a whole, which seems likely) is in fact also the source of our Wettenhall Campsite! Hankelow was named after a property owned by the Wettenhall family in England. In 1917 William and Mathilda retired to their newly built home (Norval) "to escape from the tourist business" However, so many people made requests to stay with them that they found it necessary to add several more rooms and sleepouts to their home. In this way, early in 1921, the guest-house began to take shape. Mr Thompson, a former librarian of the Mechanics Institute in Ballarat, named the house "Norval". The name "Norval" comes from a quotation from the play 'Douglas" by John Home. Written in the mid-16th century the play is set in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland. The story is of a boy who was parted from this mother during his early childhood, and was given to a shepherd who raised him. Some eighteen years later the mother by chance happens to meet here son, and not knowing his true identity, asks his name. He answers, "My name is Norval; and in the Grampian hills my father feeds his flocks." Perhaps it was simply because "Norval" was associated with the "Grampians" that it was chosen by Mr Thompson. He may also have been conscious of feeding "flocks" of tourists in his expanding, guest-house. Norval Guest-house prospered. It was known for its fine cooking and friendly atmosphere - a tradition which has carried through to the modern Norval! It closed between 1940 and 1949 because of the second world war. In 1949 it was decided to almost completely rebuild the house. Most of the old building (Hankelow plus) was demolished and rebuilt to a much larger and more modern plan. And then, on May 1, 1965, it was purchased by the Committee of Management of the Methodist and Presbyterian Conference Centres. At this time the guest-house was owned and operated by Marjorie and Lachland McLennan, Mrs McLennan being the daughter of William and Mathilda Thompson, the pioneers of the establishment. The McLennans had operated the Guest-house since about 1930.Photocopy 2 pages of article from book titled 'In the Making' title of article Norval guest House the original Norvalaccommodation, guesthouses, norval

Additions to Thompson's home as former paying guests of Mrs. Thompson wanted to continue enjoying her hospitality. Name Marjorie Law written in ink on back.Postcard showing main building & 3 'chalets'.accommodation, guesthouses, norval

Photo shows front view of Norval with garden in front.accommodation, guesthouses, norval

Rocklyn. Front view of building with people on verandah.accommodation, guesthouses, norval

Grampians House, outbuildings and grounds.Grampians House. Guest house and outbuildings in Grampians.accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

Grampians House. Photograph of guest house and garden.accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

Grampians Houe, including Guest House, & Private Hotel. Car in foreground.accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

Guest house and surrounding bushMountain Grand Guest house 1952 Halls Gap Grampiansaccommodation, guesthouses, mountain grand

2 post cards and 1 photo of post cardGuest House in GrampiansTaylor Series No 14 Valentines' post card a genuine photoaccommodation, guesthouses, mountain grand

Photograph of post card of Mountain Grand Guest HouseGuest house in GrampiansThe Rose Series P 12199accommodation, guesthouses, mountain grand

Appears to be older period possibly 1940s because of the age of the carGuest on verandah, car at side of Guest Houseaccommodation, guesthouses, mountain grand

Photograph of post cardUpdated railing on verandah of Guest houseThe Rose Series P 12199accommodation, guesthouses, mountain grand

Thomas Benjamin Morgan, wife Sylvia Vyanna purchased guest house, children were John (Jack), Thomas, Dorothy (Doll) and Nina In December 1927 the family of Thomas Benjamin Morgan, his wife Sylvia Vyanna and children John (Jack), Thomas, Dorothy (Doll) and Nina purchased the property. In 1931 a major rebuilding project took place with brothers John and Thomas together with the help of local storekeeper Harold Goodwin Taylor designing and building a grand new guest house. The house now comprised of 22 bedrooms plus the original bungalows out the backOriginal Guest House photo with arbour entranceFuji Fijl pictro paperaccommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

For historical background, refer to "Victoria's Wonderland" pp. 60, 69-75.Photo of a newly built house (Grampians House).241c Grampians mountains accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

A photo of Grampian House with arbour at the front.A photo of Grampian House with arbour at the front.accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

Grampian House at this time owned by John 'Jack' Oscar Tyley Morgan 1896-1970Photo of 'new' dining room - close up viewaccommodation, grampian house, guesthouses

For information on Grampian House, refer to "Victoria's Wonderland" pp. 69-75.Grampians House with arbour and bus in foregroundagfaaccommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

For information on Grampian House, refer to "Victoria's Wonderland" pp. 69-75.Front of Guest House with roses in bloomQuality paper made in Germanyaccommodation, guesthouses, grampian house

For information on Grampian House, refer to "Victoria's Wonderland" pp. 69-75.Post card of House with cars, women in door way and umbrella outside with tableThe Rose Series P 4513accommodation, guesthouses, grampian house