Oceanic Hotel

8 Collie St, 1898, 1903, cnr Pakenham St, now Rivendell Residential Units.
The Welsh Harp Hotel aka Collie Hotel formerly stood here.

Photograph of a painting by Toby Leek, courtesy of the artist.

Library: The Oceanic Hotel, Pakenham Street, was formerly known as the Welsh Harp Inn and the Collie Hotel. It was delicensed in 1922/1923 and became a boarding house. In 1975 it was still a boarding house until it was sold to the Rajneeshi in 1981. After extensive renovations the building was converted into six apartments and opened under the name "Rivendell" in 1982. Fremantle Library.

This is the northern end of the Pakenham St facade, which still has the Oceanic name in the pediment.

Photograph of a painting by Toby Leek, courtesy of the artist.

Hutchison: Former Oceanic Hotel. At 8 Collie St on the corner with Pakenham St. The date of the present building has not been determined. [But see below.] This property belonged to William Owston Jr in 1886 and comprised the Welsh Harp Inn and three cottages. After his death in c. 1899 the inn remained in use as a hotel, being renamed the Collie Hotel in 1900. A few years later the name was changed to the Oceanic Hotel. The building was converted to residential accommodation in 1952 and, in c. 1980, was purchased and occupied by the Rajneeshi 'orange people'. It has reverted to commercial use. Hutchison: 136.

Photograph of a painting by Toby Leek, courtesy of the artist.

The eastern end of the Collie St section, showing 8 (Collie St) as the address. It seems likely to me that the current building was constructed in three parts, with the central section, on the corner, built before the wings on the northern and eastern sides.

The date on the corner of the current building is clearly 1898. The newspaper article below indicates that the Welsh Harp Hotel was at this location in 1897, so this new building must have been built as a result of the loss of the licence of the earlier premises. See the following.

Welsh Harp Hotel, Pakenham St, 1897

Western Mail:
A LICENSE CANCELLED.
George Haines, licensee of the Welsh Harp Hotel, Packenham-street, applied for the renewal of the wine and beer license held by him in respect of the above-named premises. Inspector Back objected to the renewal of the license on the ground that the premises were in a dilapidated condition and not fit to possess a license. Mr. Kidson, on behalf of the applicant, pointed out that the premises were held by Haines under a lease from the Stanley Brewery. This lease would not expire for three years, and counsel contended that great injustice would he done to the applicant if his license was taken away. There were other hotels in Fremantle in a far worse condition than the Welsh Harp, and Mr. Kidson considered the police were acting most unfairly in singling out his client's premises and allowing others equally as bad to have their licenses renewed without making any objection. Mr. Fairbairn, in announcing the decision of the Bench, said that at the last annual sitting the applicant was informed that unless something was done to improve his premises before the next sitting, the Court would probably refuse to grant a renewal. An inspection of the premises had been made and it was found that nothing had been done in the way of improving the hotel and the Bench therefore refused to renew the license. The house had been licensed for a good many years and if the premises were re-built the Bench would, doubtless, view favourably a fresh application. Western Mail, Friday 10 December 1897, p. 35, 51.

Daily News 1903: The hotel accommodation of the town has likewise been considerably added to in late improvements. The Collie Hotel, to be known in future as the Oceanic, in Bannister-street, has been practically doubled in size ... Daily News Thursday 10 September 1903, p 3.

References and Links

Hutchison, David 2006, Fremantle Walks, Fremantle Arts Centre Press.

Western Mail, Friday 10 December 1897, p. 35, 51.

Freotopia

This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 23 September, 2014 and hosted at freotopia.org/hotels/oceanic.html (it was last updated on 8 November, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.