Licensees
1862-1866 – George Potton1New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 8 September 1865 (No.192 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 2031.
1867-1876 – Charles Heeger2New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 15 November 1867 (No.203), p 3025.
1877-1881 – Eliza Heeger3New South Wales Police Gazette and Weekly Record of Crime (Sydney : 1860-1930), Friday 17 September 1880 (No.370 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 4829.
1883-1884 – A colonial wine licence was granted to Eliza Heeger4New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 25 July 1884 (No.366 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 5073.
Location
Top of Araluen Mountain, near Bells Creek.
Kennedy wrote ‘Mr. Charles Heeger opened a hotel on top of the mountain, better known now as McCann’s old place.’5Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Friday 23 January 1942, p 2.
Historical Maps6NSW Land Registry Service, Parish and Historical Maps. Historical Land Records Viewer https://www.nswlrs.com.au/Parish-and-Historical-Maps. Accessed 17 February 2023. indicates the lands purchased by Charles Heeger were as set out in the table below.
| Por | Plan | Loc | Vol | Fol | Pub | |
| Heeger, Charles | 393 | 934 | NW | 127 | 131 | Mountain Inn |
In the News
In August 1862, G. [George] Potton, previously of the Half-way House, placed an advertisement in the Braidwood News 7Braidwood News and Goldfields General Advertiser (NSW: 1862), Tuesday 26 August 1862, page 3 advising that ‘having obtained a license for the above [The Mountain Inn, Top of the Dirty Butter Mountain Road, Bell’s Creek], respectfully solicits the patronage of all who have occasion to pass along this line of road.’
In 1865, Charles Heeger is listed as the licensee for the Blue Bell public house at Warambucca Creek, in the Braidwood District.8New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 8 September 1865 (No.192 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 2031. In October 1867, the Sydney Morning Herald9Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842-1954), Saturday 16 November 1867, p 7. published a notice advising the publicans license granted to Charles Heeger, Mountain Inn, Top of Araluen Mountain, near Bells Creek.
Charles Heeger – Innkeeper is noted in the 1875–76 Greville’s Official Post Office Directory10Greville’s Official Post Office Directory for 1875–1876 https://www.ihr.com.au/secure/html/greville75.html. Accessed 18 February 2023. (p49) in Bells Creek.
The Sydney Mail11Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871-1912), Saturday 8 September 1877, p 303. in 1877 detailed the gentlemen appointed to form the Public School Boards of the Public schools established at ‘Bell’s Creek: [were] Messrs. James Aldcorn, P.M., Eugene Dolph, Andrew Jackson Tittrelo, Thomas Forsyth, Charles Heeger, Quong Tart.’
The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, notice in the NSW Government Gazette April 187712New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 20 April 1877 (No.131), p 1611. advised ‘In the will of Charles Heeger, late of Bell’s Creek, in the district of Braidwood, in the Colony of New South Wales, innkeeper, deceased … granted to Eliza Heeger, of Bell’s Creek aforesaid, the widow of the said deceased.’
The Braidwood Dispatch13Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843-1893), Thursday 17 June 1880, p 3. in 1880, recorded a coach incident when ‘The mail coach for Araluen and Moruya left Braidwood June 11, [1880] having as passengers Constable Murphy and a little girl named Ellis. When the coach arrived at the post-office, Bell’s Creek, the driver alighted, and was carrying in the mail to the postmistress, Mrs. Heeger. Murphy also got down, the reins being held by the little girl Ellis. Something frightened the horses, and they started; and Johnson (the driver) perceiving this, ran after them and caught them, but was unable to hold them, for they knocked him down and ran over him, the wheels passing over one of his legs, inflicting a nasty cut. When free, the horses continued their course down the mountain; but the coach, coming in contact with the bank, was overturned, and the little girl thrown out, her arm being broken in the fall.’
In November 1884, the Evening News14Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869-1931), Wednesday 26 November 1884, p 8. published information regarding the death of ‘Mrs. Heeger, a very old and respected resident of the district, [who] died early this morning from dropsy. Much sympathy is expressed with her orphan children.’
The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction, noted in the NSW Government Gazette December 1884,15New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Friday 5 December 1884 (No.630), p 8163. advising ‘that goods, chattels, credits, and effects of Eliza Heeger, late of Bell’s Creek, in the district of Braidwood, in the Colony of New South Wales, widow, deceased … to Bertha Heeger’.
In September 1885, the Evening News16Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869-1931), Saturday 5 September 1885, p 8. published the land transfer detailing 4 acres suburban portions 27 and 28, and 2 acres portion 393, to Bertha Heeger of Burwood.
