The Shamrock Inn
Anvil Creek
Samuel Marshall owned the premises of the Shamrock Inn. [1]
Edmund Doyle held the licence for the Shamrock Inn in 1839 [2]
Henry Joseph Cohen
Henry Joseph Cohen was proprietor in 1840.In 1927 the Wingham Chronicle told of the day the Inn was bailed up by the Jew Boy Gang.... No traces remain today of Harry Cohen's Shamrock Inn, which during the thirties and forties of last century was the best known hostelry on the Northern road beyond Maitland. It stood on the banks of Anvil Creek, where part of the busy mining town of Greta now sprawls about slopes that were paddocks in which hairy faced teamsters from outback once encamped and rested their weary cattle. The old inn was demolished not many seasons ago and with it went the last association of its romantic history of stress and strife of joy and sorrow, of hope and despair. On the morning of December 1840, Cohen stood on its low, wide, verandah, watching a party of teamsters unyoke their bullocks in the paddock opposite. As he lounged carelessly against a verandah post his attention was attracted by the sight of a horseman approaching from the direction of Maitland. .......read more about the robbery of the Shamrock Inn in the Wingham Chronicle
The gang had arrived at the Shamrock Inn soon after bailing up John Larnach and his companion John/James Barker on the Maitland to Singleton road. The Sydney Monitor reported - 'poor Mr. Cohen was in a terrible fright, and it is supposed will not for a considerable time recover the bruises he then received' [1]
James Watson
James Watson held the licence for the Shamrock Inn in 1842. Next door to the Shamrock at this time was the business of James Bourne a blacksmith, whitesmith and bellhanger. In 1845 James Watson announced that he had opened 'a commodious house' at the Chain of Ponds which had been built by Mr. Nowland. This was the Lady Mary Fitzroy Inn.William Slack
By late 1843 William Slack was innkeeper at the Shamrock Inn. He came into financial difficulties and in consequence of the great depression and low prices of all kinds of produce reduced the charges at the Shamrock in an attempt to attract more patronage. He offered breakfast, dinner and supper for 1/6- each; Bed 1/-. Servants 1/- each. Horses were to be charged 2/6- for the night and a feed of corn or hay would cost the patron 1/-- [3]. These measures were unsuccessful as he was undergoing insolvency procedures by December of 1843 although he was issued with a licence for the Shamrock in April 1844. William Slack later moved to the Union Inn in East Maitland and then the Rose Inn at West Maitland.In August 1844, Samuel Marshall was advertising the house at Anvil Creek 'lately known as the Shamrock Inn' for lease. It contained six rooms, a kitchen and stable with a good enclosed paddock attached. [4]
References
[1] Sydney Monitor. 4 December 1840[2] State Archives NSW; Series: 14401; Item: [4/70-71]; Reel: 5055 Year: 1839, Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Certificates for Publicans' Licences,
[3] Maitland Mercury 8 October 1843
[4] Maitland Mercury 10 August 1844
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