WHEN we refer to the ‘local pub’, Casterton’s two operating hotels, Dergholm or Digby are probably the establishments that come to mind.

For those a couple of generations older, Casterton’s ‘Top Pub’, the Sandford and Merino hotels will also hold fond memories.

These days, the ‘local’ is a licensed restaurant, entertainment venue and sometimes, the meeting point for other local organisations to hold their AGMs.

But turn the clock back 100 years or so.

With arduous journeys to be made between snippets of civilisation, on many unmarked and unpaved tracks and trails, licensed establishments were an oasis for travellers.

But more than that, they were the centre for community business, stores and provisions – where a general store didn’t exist - legal proceedings and the post office.

Though just over 17 miles from Casterton – where several hotels already operated – Strathdownie was Victoria’s final frontier before the trek into South Australia and from the late 1880s, into the 1900s, its local hotel was a well-known establishment from the border (then disputed by the governments who shared it) through to Melbourne.

In an 1886 edition of the Casterton News, a reporter spoke with a Mr Jones (who, according to the Casterton and District Historical society, was believed to actually be a Mr William McEachern), who told of the establishment of Strathdownie and the first licensed premises.

“In 1875, Mr Holden selected 320 acres of land, a part of this being where the Strathdownie Hotel now stands,” ‘Mr Jones’ said.

 The reporter went on to tell how Mr Holden was employed on the Strathdownie station and from there, operated a small store in a building he had owned.

He built a house on his new selection and put his original store on wheels, relocating to his new land.

"When Mr Holden got his buildings in order," continued Mr Jones, "and opened his store, an application was sent to the Postal Department, asking that a Post Office might be established at Strathdownie and that Mr Holden should be appointed Postmaster. This request was granted by the Department, and the office was opened on the 1st of October, 1877, and, as coaches had to come to the Office, to leave and take up the mails, the house was turned into an hotel, and a license obtained for it.

“From that time the coaches commenced to travel by the present road, from Casterton to Mt. Gambler, not going near Lindsay, so that a horse mail was established to supply that place with its mail. The new road then being used from Strathdownie to Mt. Gambler, was very boggy for a part of the way, but the mail contractor, Mr Cawker, managed to get through, and keep good time as well. Mr Holden, for a few years kept the hotel and store - he then sold out to Mr Donald McInnes, who kept it about two years, and then resold it to Mr Douglas, who, later on, sold it to the present owners, Messrs McFarlane Bros."

Such was the importance of this ‘outpost’, its activities were regularly reported in newspapers from the local, in Casterton, to The Argus (Melbourne, 1848 – 1957) and The Australasian (Melbourne, 1864 - 1946), including those events which, by today’s standards, would barely rate a mention in the local classies.

In August 1889, The Argus reported on page 8, the sad passing of Mrs Andrew McFarlane of Ardno, the mother of the publican, when died from influenza at age 86.

In January, 1911, on his tour of the south west, His Excellency, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Thomas Gibson Carmichael, chose to take his lunch break at the Strathdownie Hotel – a major event for the district and also reported in The Argus.

The hotel was also the site of the beginning of a major local infrastructure undertaking, which still occupies discussions at a local government level, today.

In August, 1889, The Hamilton Spectator reported a “large and enthusiastic” meeting was held at the hotel, for the “purpose of forming a drainage league” and develop plans for getting a bridge built across the Glenelg Ricer “at a point to be decided upon by a committee formed for the purpose”.

Its agenda was to develop a system for preventing yearly inundation of the Strathdownie district, via construction of a channel to the Glenelg River and the building of a bridge to allow residents direct access to Mount Gambier, in the wetter months when the Glenelg River was too deep to cross.

The foresight of these men (women were not invited to the meeting!) and their meeting at ‘the local’ takes form today in the Strathdownie Drainage Scheme, managed by the Glenelg Shire Council.