The Chaffey Trail Home 1. The Old Mildura Station Homestead 2. Mildura Homestead Cemetery 3. Rio Vista Historic House 4. Lock 11 & Mildura Weir 5. Mildura Wharf 6. Mildura Grand Hotel 7. Psyche Bend Pump Station 8. Chateau Mildura 9. Merbein 10. Further Links of the Chaffey Story 11. The Chaffey Trail Map

Mildura Grand Hotel

Our intention is to have no hotels at Mildura where liquor can be sold to be drunk on the premises. - WB Chaffey, 1887

The Mildura Grand Hotel, originally the Mildura Coffee Palace, dates back to the earliest days of the irrigation settlement.

Mildura was a planned temperance colony, part of the Chaffey brothers' vision for Mildura as a place without an ingrained drinking culture to distract working men from their duties. In 1889 tenders were called for the building of the Coffee Palace, with original directors WB Chaffey, H Williams and A Croathwaite.

On the ground floor, plans revealed a billiard room, dining room, offices, smoking room, kitchen, storeroom, servants' quarters and large underground cellars. On the first floor 21 bedrooms were to be constructed.

Sceptics described the Coffee Palace as a 'gross over-development', predicting a white elephant quite out of character in the new river settlement. How wrong they were! The Coffee Palace prospered and extensive additions were planned only two months after its doors opened to the public.

Two sisters, Mrs Annie Yule and Miss May Williams, ran the premises from 1904 until 1915. In 1915, as the temperance movement was failing, Miss Williams applied to the Licensing Court for a Wine Licence but the application attracted great opposition from prohibitionists. Eventually a Wine License
was granted and was followed by a full licence in 1919, when the Mildura Grand Hotel Limited Company was formed.

From 1924 to 1963 the hotel continued being rebuilt and modernised. By the end of 1966 most of the rooms had private facilities, making the Mildura Grand Hotel one of the most modern in the state.

Did you know?

• The Mildura Grand was the first hotel of its type in this region
• The Hotel is large by regional standards and occupies an entire city block
• The original fountain remains in the Rose garden.

Photos: MurrayRiverPhotos.com.au

What is here today!

The Mildura Grand Hotel Resort was sold to the Carrazza family in 1989. The ongoing renovation and refurbishment of the hotel has continued in order to meet the family's goal of establishing the Mildura Grand Hotel as the 'Hotel Windsor' of country Victoria.

Extensive developments have included the construction of a ballroom to accommodate 400 guests, a new staircase and atrium entrance, alteration and upgrading of the Grand Bistro and Bottleshop areas, the establishment of the Grand Cellar and Pizza Cafe and the conversion of the former underground cellars to the highly-acclaimed Stefano's Restaurant.

In October 2006 the Day Group took over the day to day running of the Mildura Grand Hotel in alliance with Choice Hotels Australasia. The hotel is now known as Quality Hotel Mildura Grand. The Hotel now hosts the award-winning Mildura Brewery and three-award winning restaurants, including Stefano's.

The original Mildura Coffee Palace may no longer be recognisable today, having merged into the Grand Hotel. But wrapped inside the Hotel's walls are more than a century of stories of Mildura.

Cnr Seventh Street & Deakin Avenue Mildura
Telephone 03 5023 0511 • (GPS Co-ordinates X=607,212 Y=6,216,943)

1. The Old Mildura Station Homestead ♦ 2. Mildura Homestead Cemetery ♦ 3. Rio Vista Historic House
4. Lock 11 & Mildura Weir ♦ 5. Mildura Wharf ♦ 6. Mildura Grand Hotel ♦ 7. Psyche Bend Pump Station ♦ 8. Chateau Mildura ♦ 9. Merbein
10. Further Links of the Chaffey Story ♦ The Chaffey Trail ♦ The Chaffey Trail Map