Steeped in history
From then to now
Tydal Woody Point is located on the site of the former Palace Hotel, the location holds special memories for locals and a place in rock and roll history as the pub where the Bee Gees played their first paid gig.
Pre-Colonial
Woody Point Shoreline
Woody Point was a well-established camp for the Gubbi Gubbi and Ningy Ningy clans of the Undambi people prior to the arrival of Matthew Flinders in 1799. Groups from far afield would come for corroborees and the mullet run, dugong and turtle hunts. A short-lived attempt to establish a penal colony in 1824 was abandoned in favour of Brisbane when local clans fiercely defended their land. With the arrival of settlers in their numbers in the 1870s, the Aboriginal population dwindled through displacement and disease.
Image Source
Woody Point shoreline, 1876, State Library of Queensland
1883
The Great Western Hotel
St Leonard’s Hotel, later renamed The Great Western, opens with a “first class lunch” offering elegant accommodation to “excursionists” travelling by steamer from Sandgate following the 1882 opening of Woody Point Jetty. After a succession of licensees the hotel, with three sitting rooms and 12 bedrooms, passes to William Duggan whose tenure lasts only months before it is destroyed by fire in 1907.
Image Source
The Great Western Hotel, 1883, Redcliffe Museum Photographic Collection
1908
The Palace Hotel
After the fire, the site is auctioned off and by November 1908, The Palace Hotel rises from the ashes with Albert Goodwin listed as publican. Goodwin finds himself in the occasional spot of bother for selling liquor on a Sunday but any smear upon the family name is erased when his son saves three
people from drowning in 1914. Once again, a revolving door of licensees follows until the Filmer family’s arrival.
Image Source
The Palace Hotel, 1908, Redcliffe Historical Society Inc.
1935
Hornibrook Bridge Opening
Harold and Lilly Filmer take over the publican’s licence, renovating the hotel and adding modern luxuries such as electric lighting and parking garages for guests. The rebranded Filmers Palace Hotel becomes a popular destination, a little too much so given the number of court appearances for selling
liquor on Sundays and after hours. The opening of the Hornibrook Highway in 1935 brings increasing numbers of Brisbane holidaymakers, drinking their way through a five gallon keg of beer in a week. In 1937, the Filmers add a large ballroom, lounge, extended bar area and a telephone, Redcliffe 26, to their thriving establishment.
Image Source
Opening of the first Hornibrook Highway bridge, Redcliffe, 1935, State Library of Queensland
1952
Mavis Filmer
In 1943, the Filmers’ son Ken marries Mavis Long, the daughter of a local police sergeant whom he met at the telephone exchange. Ken runs an electrical business but in 1952, he and Mavis take over management of the hotel, introducing floor shows and live bands, tapping into the exciting era of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. The hull of the decommissioned HMQS Gayundah warship is beached at Woody Point, becoming a popular attraction for tourists.
Image Source
Mavis Filmer outside The Palace Hotel
1959
The Bee Gees
Filmers Palace Hotel becomes the unlikely launching pad for the Bee Gees, whose 220 million record sales make them one of the most successful bands of all time. For the price of a Coca-Cola and a jug of beer for Mum and Dad, Hugh and Barbara Gibb, brothers Brian, 12, and Robin and Maurice, 8, perform what is credited as their first paid gig. The youngsters are seasoned performers having played as the skiffle rock and roll group, The rattlesnakes, before their parents leave Manchester in 1958 under Australia’s ‘Ten Pound Pom’ migration program. The boys perform three nights a week at The Palace and while the family lives in Redcliffe for only two years the Brothers Gibb leave behind an enduring legacy.
Image Source
The Bee Gees, 1959, The Pictoral History of Redcliffe and Moreton Bay Region Collection
2001
The Palace Hotel
By turn of century the live bands are long gone, shut down by noise complaints from neighbours in the ‘70s and replaced with pokies for entertainment. Mavis sells the hotel in 2001, ending 75 years of ownership by the Filmer family. The name reverts to The Palace Hotel and it continues to operate as new owners serve last drinks in 2013.
Image Source
The Palace Hotel, 2007, Image courtesy of City of Moreton Bay, reference number MBPS-0044
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