Point of Interest # 9

FORREST ARMS HOTEL/HOSTEL/'BRAIDWOOD' - 28 WILLIAM ST.

Researched and written by Mary Richmond, Lyn Myles & Rob Borsje.

History of the Hotel

First built in 1897, there were a number of publicans over the years of its licensed existence.

DATES	PUBLICANS NAME	INFORMATION ON PUBLICAN
1897	William George Green	Granted license in Sept 1897. He was the builder and owner.
1897-1898	John Branley	Married, Hotel Keeper held license for 2 months from W.G. Green and rented the property from Frederick Nichols of Perth.
1898-1901	Harry Bols	Married, held license at Swan Hotel Fremantle. Leasing from F. Nichols.
1901	Neil McDonald	Applied for license transfer 5.3.1901.
1901-1903	James Clive Braidwood	Married, Contractor, rented from Sam Copley and had held a license since transfer from Neil McDonald. Moved to Collie and stated he had been at Smith's Mill holding a Liquor license for a year and 8 months.
1903-1905	Elizabeth Annette Moir (1906 married W.H. McGlew)	A widow, she was renting from the WA Brewing Co. She had not held a license before.
1905-1907	Harry Albert Craven Griffiths	Married, a Hotel Keeper, worked at Broad Arrow hotel for 2 years. He was renting from the WA Brewing Co.
1907-1909	Thomas Roland Bazeley	Married, carpenter, he was renting from the WA Brewing Co. he had not held a license before.
1909-1910	Michael De Pedro	Married, Hotel keeper, wife renting from Swallow Brewery Co. He had managed Collie and Mt Magnet hotels for 9 years.
1910-1921	Ernest Jasper John Wood	Originally came from Meckering. He had run hotels in Arthur River & Williams. He had a spell working at Bodallin in 1915-1917 for a friend then returned to the Forrest Arms Hotel. In 1921 his license was not renewed as it was felt it didn’t attract enough customers either passing or in the village. There was also a dampness problem with the building.

There were 10 Publicans over the 24 years it operated as a licensed hotel with the longest serving proprietor being Ernest Wood, of 11 years. Only 1 female held the license over that period of time.

So, how did the pub lose its licence? Click or tap here.

After the Hotel was de-licenced, it was advertised for sale in the newspapers of the day, as this advertisement from the 'West Australian', 26th October, 1921 attests:

"A SPLENDID PROPOSITION AT GLEN FORREST, IN THE HILLS.
Owing to the licence of the Glen Forrest Arms Hotel being cancelled at the end of the year, I am offering this property for sale, unfurnished. There is no large accommodation house in this desirable district, hence the chance for someone to buy this on easy terms, Price for the building of 14 rooms, etc £1,450. Terms £250 deposit. Balance arranged. Full particulars from the sole agent, MRS. T. H. BLAKE Sworn Valuator and Land Agent, Baird's Arcade, Perth. Tel. 2590.

The value of £1,450 is worth $118,000 today - still rather cheap by today's standards.

By December, 1921 the same agent advertised:

"IN THE HILLS: GLEN FORREST ARMS HOTEL (licence cancelled) to Let as a Boarding-house, empty; splendid proposition, 35s.

— and this was what the former hotel became, for the next 37 years.

Now as a hostel, the old pub was sadly forced to endure a Temperance Union's Womans Summer School there in November, 1932 - an arm of the same group that successfully pressed for the reduction in hotel licences in 1921 which resulted in the hotel's closure . .[1]

History of the Hostel

The property was owned by the West Australian Brewery Company Ltd from 1900 and they retained ownership of the property until October 1923, when it was sold to Hyem Hester & Co. (auctioneers and estate agents) who had it until March 1924, after which it was purchased by Albert Schell, farmer, of Goomalling.[2]
Elizabeth Sanderson purchased the property in July 1937 but she had been running it as a Hostel from 1929 ‐ 1943. Her husband was Joseph Sanderson, brother of Robert Sanderson who owned the Pittersen Store after Pittersen’s death in 1921.
In 1943 the hostel was briefly run by William Ernest and Irene Dorothy Peet. After the Peets, Annie Bright, a widow, purchased the property from Elizabeth Sanderson in March, 1944 and her mother Olive Ivy and father Edward George appeared to have operated the Hostel, until 1947.
Strangely the Peet and Bright families shared the same property “Woodstock” at Mt Helena. It appears the Brights purchased the farm from the Peets, both claiming to live there at the time of the 1949 Electoral Roll.

In April 1947, a NSW family bought the property and took over the management of the Hostel. The property was in joint names of William Joseph Ham, Arthur Percival Johnson and Nona Florence Johnson.[3] William and his wife Edith Violet Ham, had lived in Glen Forrest since the mid 1940’s. William served in WW1 with the 17th Battalion. His occupation was in accounting. The rate books also listed the property in the joint names.
Their daughter Nona had married Arthur Percival Johnson in 1943 when he was serving with the Australian 2/7 Field Regiment.
First hand information from a neighbour, who grew up in Glen Forrest at this time, recalled that Arthur Johnson was known for having a bad temper and bashed his father-in-law William in 1948 (refer to the 'Mirror' newspaper article reproduced below). This resulted in Arthur being prosecuted and fined £50.
The family managed the Hostel until Matthew and Isabel Black purchased the Hostel in January, 1949.[4] Nona and Arthur Johnson then moved to Ryecroft Rd (Lot 45) to a property belonging to her father. Nona’s parents had separated resulting in her mother Edith moving to South Perth then later to NZ where she died in 1995.

Matthew and Isabel Black, aged in their 60’s, ran the Hostel from 1949 until March, 1958 after which the property was sold to Ronald Clive and Julia Oenone Gard. Ronald was a design engineer. This was the end of the hostel as the Gard's bought it as a private home and named the house “Braidwood” after one of the early publicans. They carried out some major renovations to the façade which altered the original appearance of the building. The couple remained at the house until 1972, when Ronald moved to Rivervale. Julia remained on and died there in 1974, aged 42. Ronald remarried and moved to NSW in 1980.

Around 1975 “Braidwood” was owned by Ian and Sue Matthews until the late 1980’s when the property was purchased by Bruce and Linda Bellinge. This couple did major renovations to the house by installing central heating and a swimming pool however they left in the early 1990’s. There was a brief ownership by a country couple before Don and Sheridan Condren purchased the property and addressed the dampness issues by replaced the building’s leaky roof. They also renovated the kitchen and put in a hallway for accessing the bedrooms. As they owned Wisteria Cottage close to “Braidwood”, they were doing the upgrade only as an investment.

They then sold the property to Darcy Herbert and Andrew Storey. They delved into the history of the building and this inspired them to restore its original name “Forrest Arms” and they also restored the building’s façade back to its original design. The property has not been resold (as at 2020) and is rented out.