Licensee
1862-1866 – Patrick Prior1New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 7 August 1866 (No.152 [SUPPLEMENT]), p 1847.
Location
Top of Dirty Butter Road, Araluen Mountain, Bells Creek.
In the News
Patrick Prior placed an advertisement dated 25 April 1862 in the Braidwood Observer 2Braidwood Observer and Miner’s Advocate (NSW: 1859 – 1862), Saturday 23 Jul 1862, page 1 to inform that he had obtained a license for ‘large and commodious premises recently erected by him at the top of the Araluen Mountain road’ and was hoping ‘by retailing a good article, to give satisfaction to those who may favour him with a call,’ at the Star of Erin.
In a well reported case, often referred to as the Bells Creek Murder, 1862, Kennedy3THE BRAIDWOOD GOLDFIELDS IN THE 50’s AND 60’s. (By Old Hand.) Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW : 1888-1954), Saturday 18 April 1908, p 2. related ‘on Bell’s Creek a Chinaman was shot and the crime was never unravelled. …. some men were seen by Ah Chee and his comrade, who … had several men stuck up and taken off the road … When Ah Chee and his mate rode up … they were [summoned to] ‘bail up’. … It appeared from the evidence afterwards given at the inquest that Ah Chee must have known one of the robbers, … and at that the man addressed by his mate as Jemmy shot him dead. They then took all the gold and money and the Chinamen’s watches, and then decamped after letting their other prisoners go’.
Newspaper reports in August 1862, detailed the ‘general feeling of indignation and horror’4Goulburn Herald (NSW : 1860-1864), Saturday 16 August 1862, p 2. and the remanding of the four men implicated in the murder of Ah Chee, including ‘Patrick Prior, the landlord of the Star of Erin public-house, of Araluen Mountain’5Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Friday 15 August 1862, p 5., who the Braidwood Observer notes in March 1863, ‘was rearrested and lodged in the lockup, on a charge of being an accessory to and before the murder’.6Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1932), Wednesday 11 March 1863, p 3. In May 1863, The Braidwood Dispatch reports that ‘Hugh Montgomery, alias George Bland, has been committed for trial on a charge of having murdered Ah Chee upon the Araluen Mountain, in August 1862. He will be tried at the Central Criminal Court, Sydney. 7Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842-1954), Friday 1 May 1863, p 4. By June 1863, the Braidwood Observer reported ‘The Attorney General has declined to prosecute Hugh Montgomery, recently committed for trial by the Braidwood bench, for the murder of Ah Chee near Bell’s Creek’.8Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW : 1843-1893), Tuesday 2 June 1863, p 3.
On 26 December 1863, the Star of Erin advertised a Boxing Night, Ball and Supper in the Araluen Star9Araluen Star and Miners Right (1863-1964), Saturday 26 December 1863, p 1.
A robbery, detailed as, the Sticking up of the Araluen Mail, was described in the Sydney Mail10Sydney Mail (NSW : 1860-1871), Saturday 16 January 1864, p 10. in January 1864, as ‘the mailboy … proceeding up the Araluen Mountain road … when at the Big Rock, about half a mile from Prior’s public-house at the top of the mountain, he was surprised by hearing a voice from some person call out Stop!’ … two men pulled the mail bags off the horse, … the contents of the bags were thrown out in a heap upon the ground, … taking all those the boy supposed had money in them and laying them to one side. Having finished their search of the mail-bags, they tied the boy’s hands behind him, and also bound his legs together … With considerable difficulty he managed to shuffle as far as Prior’s public-house, where he was released, and Mr. Summers, the storekeeper, who happened to be there at the time, and some other parties returned with him to the scene of plunder’.
The Star of Erin was advertised in the Braidwood News and General Advertiser in 1864, and detailed at the top of Dirty Butter Road, Araluen Mountain. The Caledonian Inn, at the foot of the Mountain, was also advertised in the same issue.
Roadworks on the Araluen Mountain Road in 1864, were advertised in the Araluen Star, 11Araluen Star and Miners Right (1863-1964), Saturday 22 April 1864, p 5. noting the road would not be passable on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, until the culvert works were completed, between Prior’s [The Star of Erin] and Armstrong’s [The Caledonian Inn].
The Empire12Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850-1875), Monday 3 September 1866, p 5. reported in September 1866 ‘Patrick Prior, of Bell’s Creek, applied for leave to transfer his publicans’ license to Bartholomew Lessing, of the same police district … No objection had been made by the police to the transfer, but was resisted by the entry of a written one … the substance of which was that as the goods and chattels of Prior had been taken in execution, at the suit of the objector, the license was vested in … the bailiff until judgment was satisfied. Mr. Scarvell contended that the license, being merely a document permitting the holder to sell liquors, was not one that was seizable under executions, as the bailiff could not, if he had it, render it available for delivery to another party. The Bench granted the transfer as asked for.’
By 1867, the NSW Gazette details the public houses noted at Bells Creek as the Sportmans Arms – Anne Gilligan (formerly of the Erin-go-bragh), and Stephen Poppenhager (Halfway House). 13New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832-1900), Tuesday 13 August 1867 (No.136 ([SUPPLEMENT]), p 1893.
Patrick Prior – Miner is noted in the 1875–76 Greville’s Official Post Office Directory14Greville’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.