683 Queensberry Street

Rose of Hotham Hotel [1]) 1861-1883, renamed Old Johnnie Falconer 1883-1889, named again The Rose of Hotham 1889-1926, closed as a hotel, later used as a restaurant, now developed as apartments.

Graded B (of regional or metropolitan significance) in the Melbourne City Council’s North and West Melbourne Conservation Study 1983.

Queensberry Street

It was sometimes assumed that Queensberry Street was named after the Marques of Queensberry who devised the rules of modem boxing. This is not the case. That particular Marquess of Queensberry was born in 1844 and died in 1900. The street was already named when he was a boy. However, he belonged to a well-known family in the Scottish lowlands and the estate carried the family name, which was given to the street.

The names

In many parts of Europe, the rose has been recognised as a symbol of perfection because its petals form concentric circles. In the Middle Ages, the rose referred to Mary, the perfect woman and the mother of Jesus, hence the rose windows of many cathedrals. In fifteenth century England, red and white roses were adopted as symbols of the rival royal families of York and Lancaster and after the War of the Roses were combined to form a new symbol for the House of Tudor. Subsequently, many public houses carried the name of rose.                                                           ·

In the 18th century, there was a saying that whatever was said under the rose was confidential. This was applied to pubs and gave the name a special significance. North Melbourne had several examples – The Rose of Hotham, the Rose of Denmark 1864-1904 (demolished but formerly oil the site of 13 Bedford Street NW Bond Place) and Rose of Australia 1866-1904 (demolished but formerly on site of 10 Courtney Street NW of Bedford Streets).

The owners

The first owner of the Rose of Hotham was Andrew Flanagan, a member of the first Hotham Council. After 6 years, the Rose of Hotham changed to the name of its new owner, Old Johnnie Falconer and then went back to its old name of the Rose of Hotham for the next 37 years. The Rose of Hotham lives on in stories of the guinea pigs that were kept in the bar and exercised by continually running and turning a wheel.

Historic Pubs of North Melbourne by Hotham History Project.