Historical information

The Sir John Franklin Hotel was built by William 'Tulip' Wright in 1854. It stood on the NE corner of Vaughan and Macedon Streets in Sunbury and initially it was a hotel patronised by the middle classes. The manager at the time this photograph was taken was Pat. Sweeney. During the Second World War, in the 1940s a small number of Italian POWs were housed in the Sir John Franklin Hotel. By the 1960s the only evidence of the hotel being on that site were a few bluestone pitchers. Some private houses have been built on the site.

Significance

In the 1850s five hotels were built along Macedon Street in Sunbury, between Jacksons Creek and Evans Street. The Sir John Franklin Hotel was one of the them. Today the Ballcourt Hotel is the only remaining hotel ion that area.

Physical description

An old black and white photograph with a narrow cream border, of a four men standing outside a single storey hotel building which has a verandah across the front. One of the men has two dogs on leads.