The Prince Of Wales Hotel was originally constructed by William Sidebottom in 1836. It was one of the earliest Inns to be constructed in the new township of Evandale. Evandale was originally named Honeysuckle Banks after the camp made by Macquarie in his traverse of Tasmania in 1811 and thereafter the emerging town was named New River and then known as Collin's Hill in the 1820s.
The town was officially known as Morvern, after the original surveyed site for a town some 3 km south of the current town but the site was unsuitable due to lack of permanent water. The town was renamed Evansdale in 1829, after the surveyor George William Evans, and then Evandale in 1836.
The first inn was recorded as opening in 1832, the New River, which was later rebuilt as the Patriot King William the Fourth - later renamed the Blenheim, now Blenheim House. Another old tavern was the Ingleside, now rebuilt as the Ingleside bakery. The oldest public house still trading is the Prince of Wales Hotel and it was first licensed in 1842. Sidebottom also constructed the Railway Hotel (which no longer exists) and established a tannery and bark mill nearby.
Another licensee, Thomas Hanney, used to run coaches from Evandale through to Launceston in the 1850's. Hanney's coaches proudly carried the Royal Mail. The bar of the Prince Of Wales Hotel once contained a butcher's shop and a cake shop run by the Misses Fyfe, whose father operated an early bus service to Western Junction.
The hotel is now substantially altered from its original form. The original entrance used to be on the splay corner of the building. The Prince Of Wales Hotel is still a vital part of the Evandale community providing quality meals, accomodation & entertainment all year round.
Main Text & Information Sources -
Evandale Heritage Walk brochure - Published by the Evandale Community Centre
