Outback Queensland hotel destroyed by fire
The Grand Hotel in Hughenden has been burnt to the ground over the weekend. The heritage-listed pub has not traded since 2004, and was boarded up at the time of the blaze.
The Grand Hotel was built in 1910 and heritage listed in 2007, and was one of several historic structures, including pubs, damaged by fire in the north-western Queensland town.
Speaking to the ABC, Flinders Shire Mayor Jane McNamara said the loss was “very sad for the region that we've lost an iconic landmark”.
"It was built at the height of the importance of Hughenden as a wool and railway town [and] was the last of many hotels in Hughenden which have tragically all suffered the same fate," she said.
"We did everything in our power to stop people being in there — we've only just recently replaced the wire fence with boarding … to stop people being able to climb over. It is the end of an era for that sort architecture, certainly in our town.”
The ruins of the pub are now a crime scene with police treating the fire as suspicious.
Sheridan Randall, 20th November 2018
