The first licence for an Inn in Goulburn was granted to Jack Cole (I'm not sure if he is a relation?) in the old town of 1831. The Policeman's Arms was located at the crossing of the Great South Road over the Wollondilly River.

By 1832 there was another inn, licensed by Mathew Healey, also near the crossing of the river, on the site where Riversdale currently stands.

According to Stephen Tazewells Grand Goulburn, Jack Cole is also credited with building the Goulburn Hotel on the corner of Sloane and Clinton Streets, later Mandelson's Hotel. He died in 1840 and it was put up for sale.

Later that year, Nathan Mandelson from Bungonia bought it and it was opened in its current form in 1846.

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Current owner Steve Ayling said Mandelson had a great vision for Goulburn and his hotel.

"He wanted it to rival anything in Sydney and surpass anything else in the colony," Mr Ayling said.

A grand vision indeed.

According to the booklet Goulburn's Nineteenth Century Pubs, "part of a town's history is encapsulated in its hotels."

"Even the way the sites are clustered reflects the development and periodic changes in lifestyle and transport modes," it says.

An example of how early pubs became clustered around the train station with the arrival of the railway in 1869 include the Southern Railway Hotel, the former Carlton Hotel and the Goulburn Hotel (on the current site of the Goulburn Soldiers Club).

This Goulburn Hotel was originally called The Commercial and opened in 1849. The bushranger Fred Lowry was shot dead inside it in 1863.

The Southern Railway Hotel, originally called Clifford's Hotel, then the Railway Hotel and then the Coolavin Hotel, was established in 1872. This hotel which has recently been sold but retains much of its nineteenth century charm.

Other early pubs include The Harp of Erin, which was established in 1838 on the corner of Montague and Auburn Streets. The O'Brien family ran it until 1864 when it was taken over by Thomas Skinner and renamed the London Tavern. It was renamed The Harp in 1886 and taken over by Alex Nixon. It has long since gone.

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The John Barleycorn Hotel was opened in 1847 in Clinton St. At the time it was the only building between Auburn and Bourke streets. It has also gone.

The Goulburn's Nineteenth Century Pubs booklet lists many other early hotels of the era including The Argyle Inn in Montague St, which opened in 1846. The Inn has been demolished, but was on the site of the current Newo House.

Another pub in Montague St (corner of Montague and Ross Pl) was The Captain Cook Hotel in the 1860s.

The Chequers Inn was on the corner of Clinton and Auburn Streets. It was built in 1847. In its many incarnations, it was also known as The Beehive Hotel. Sadly it is lost to history.

The Tattersalls, The Exchange, the Hibernian Hotels and the Southern Star Hotels are all survivors from this period.

The Hibernian was licensed in 1850. It became a doctor's surgery for a while but was reopened in 1880.

The Exchange Hotel was first advertised in 1880. A Duncan Campbell advertised that he "had converted his late grocery establishment into a first class hotel."

The Southern Star Hotel in Reynolds St still stands, though it is now an Indian restaurant. It dates back to 1869.

The Tattersalls Hotel was originally built as the 'town house' for William Bradley in 1842.

It was later used as a bank and a boy's school. In 1876 it became Thomas's New Family Hotel, renamed in 1896 as the Palace Hotel. It was named the Tattersall's Hotel in 1928.

In Grand Goulburn, Tazewell calls The Royal Hotel "the most romantic of all Goulburn hotels." It was opened in 1841, on the spot where the Goulburn Workers Club now stands and was soon recognized as a 'superior house.'

Governor and Lady Gipps stayed there in 1842. It was continually licensed for 125 years, and was a social centre of Goulburn life until it closed in 1966. With accommodation scarce, the Phillip Court Hotel Motel was built on the site of the Odeon Theatre in 1970.

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