Historical information

Identified by inscription on the back of the photograph as "Early Pitfield", and the buildings as "Matthew Hamilton Baird's . . . hotel & store".
Information from Joan Hunt (see 'Pitfield/Kaleno' file) says the Emu Inn or Pitfield Hotel was at Pitfield/Wardy Yallock township on the road from Skipton to Geelong. Part of this area - foreground, to the left, was called "Buncle's Flat", named after John Buncle, a carpenter who lived in a cottage there with his family. An early timber inn on the Wardy Yallock Creek was owned first by Peter Hardie and then by Edward Langhorne/John McNamara in the 1840s and a mail run from Geelong was established to it in 1846. Matthew Hamilton Baird was the lessee or owner from 1852, and Benjamin Fernald from about 1860. In 1853, the nearby store, at that time owned by William Whitecross, caught fire. The fire spread to the hotel and both buildings were destroyed. The hotel was replaced by the brick or stone building seen in the photograph.

Physical description

Small black and white copy of original photograph which shows trees, fencing and farm buildings in foreground, and in the background a large stone or brick building plus smaller timber buildings (dwellings?) situated along a roadway. On the right of the photograph the road goes over a large bridge of timber construction.

Inscriptions & markings

On back of photograph: "Early Pitfield showing Matthew Hamilton Baird's store (stone?) & hotel & store".