14. Great Southern Hotel and Keefer's Boat Hire

The substantial Great Southern Hotel opened in 1889, not long before the beginning of the economic Depression that followed the end of the Marvellous Melbourne boom years of the 1880s. The shareholders of the company that built the hotel expected visitors to travel by train and horse tram or by a private horse-drawn vehicle and enjoy a wonderful holiday in comfortable accommodation. Upstairs rooms with balconies gave holiday makers extensive and glorious views across the Bay.

In the 1920s the building showed little change but the name was altered to Hotel Beaumaris. Visitors by then could travel by car or by train and motor charabanc.

By the later part of the  twentieth century, the ‘Beaui’ had become important for entertainment, which included Frank Traynor’s ‘Jazz Preachers’ playing for diners and dancers, and people of all ages meeting for drinks. By May 1988 the hotel had been re-modelled.

At the base of the cliff below the hotel stood the shed that housed Keefer’s Boat Hire set up by Charles Keefer who also held a lease over the popular sea baths. People who loved fishing came from nearby and from distant places to Keefer’s, and many older men and women remember the delight of going out with a parent to catch their first fish. A fire in 1984 caused great distress when it burned the historic shed, boats and equipment causing the business to end. The owner at that time, Duncan McLean, subsequently operated a mussel farm for some years, until that too closed, leaving pelicans as the only occupants of the old jetty.