The Imperial Hotel (The Diggers Rest)

The Australian Woman’s Weekly, 17 December 1969, p. 29.

The Imperial Hotel, later renamed to The Diggers Rest, was a hotel in Lightning Ridge on the corner of Morilla and Opal Streets.

For almost a century, the hotel in the centre of town provided a welcome rest for weary miners, accomodation for travellers, and a place to socialise.

The first Imperial Hotel was built in 1908 from local timber cut at the Gooraway sawmill. It was built in the “Queensland” construction style, with the uprights placed on the outside of the building to save on lining.

The first hotel opened 1 December 1909. It was owned by Richard Dennis Legge and Tooth's Brewery. Richard Legge’s brother, George Herbert, managed the hotel.

The Imperial Hotel in 1908.

The Imperial Hotel in 1909.

The lease of the hotel passed through many hands over the years. August Rehnisch held the lease from 1910 to 1917, Watty Vause in 1917-1918, Tom Judge from 1918-1921, Max Meyers from 1921-1925, then Jack Nicholas from Walgett from 1925.

In 1927 the hotel burned to the ground — for the first time. An 11-year-old spectator, Janet Randell, remarked that “It was a pretty sight, all those spirits going up!” Publican Jack Nicholas was also known as “Hellfire Jack” as the previous three hotels he had managed had also gone up in flames, certainly a coincidence…

Legge chose not to rebuild, so Charles E. Thomas from Walgett tried to acquire the liquor licence and relocate it to Walgett. The licensing board and community disagreed. A temporary bar was built from weatherboards. Eventually, Thomas rebuilt the hotel on the same site. The second Imperial Hotel was opened in 1929.

The Imperial Hotel in the 1940s.

In 1963-64, the name of the hotel was changed to the Diggers Rest to honour not only the opal miners but also returned soldiers, many of whom were coming back to the fields after a long absence. 

In the same decade, artist Brian Maloney painted caricatures depicting the ever-positive opal miner on the walls. 

The Diggers Rest in 1965.

The Diggers Rest Hotel burned down for the final time on 23 April 2006, around midnight.

There was some panic about the famous Diggers Rest sign, a fear that it would be stolen and fall into the wrong hands.  There was a scramble to make the owners in Newcastle aware of its sentimental value. Today the sign, and many other items of Diggers Rest memorabilia are preserved with the Ligthning Ridge Historical Society.

The Diggers Rest in 2004.

The Diggers burns in 2006. Photograph from the Black Opal Advocate newspaper.

Article: Edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: Lightning Flash Newspaper, 5 October 1972, 27 May 1976, 26 April 1979; A Journey With Colour: A History of Lightning Ridge Opal 1873-2003, Len Cram, 2003, p. 287.