Bealey Hotel and its colourful past

[b]The first incarnation of the Bealey Hotel was called The Glacier Hotel although it was nowhere near the Bealey Glacier. The hotel was built by the provincial council to coincide with the opening of the West Coast Road in 1865, and was managed by a succession of charismatic licensees.  As gold fever took hold and tourism boomed, the hotel transformed into a popular destination. Over the years, it has been blighted by fire, near bankruptcies and other misfortunes - but today the Bealey Hotel lives on as a popular stopover for tourists heading to Arthur's Pass and the West Coast.[/b]

[b]The first owner[/b] Back in the goldrush days the establishment became an integral part of the Christchurch-Hokitika route, catering for a flood of diggers arriving by coach to begin their long walk over Arthur’s Pass to the goldfields. In 1883, one of the best-known Bealey publicans arrived, an ex-sergeant of police named James O’Malley. He was impressed with the area and its excellent views up both the Waimakariri and Bealey valleys to the snow-covered heights of the Alps a few kms away.  He was confident that traffic across the Alps would increase, and he had timber and iron brought in by traction engine to upgrade the original building and add another storey. 

[b]Tourist attraction[/b] Interest in mountain attractions was keen in the latter part of the 19th century and O’Malley’s pub must have been a lively place for a holiday with scenery, fishing and shooting and the almost daily arrival of coaches laden with travellers’ en-route to the romantic west. In keeping with the romance of the mountains, O'Malley promoted the Glacier Hotel as a tourism venture (even though the nearest glacier was 16km away).  An adventurer and canny businessman, he often took groups of paying guests on treks up the river to the glacier. [b]Blighted by fire[/b] In 1910, the first of the fires that were to plague the establishment saw the demise of the ‘Glacier Hotel’. In a strange twist of bureaucracy, the Tawera County Council were forced to rebuild the hotel in order to maintain the license for the river crossing. The rebuild was on a lesser scale, with a small bar, a dining room, and a few bedrooms. Fred Cochrane took over the hotel in 1928 and became one of the more flamboyant proprietors. He ran a lucrative trade in hauling cars and their owners across the Waimakariri River, many of whom had misjudged the pitfalls of the crossing.

[b]A writer's perspective[/b] In a magazine article about her stay at the Bealey Hotel in 1936, writer Mona Tracy  describes the colourful stream of visitors to pass through its doors.  'Imagine the pageant which once passed Bealey – the coachloads of bewhiskered men and crinolined women, the differs who ramped across the Alps with their packs on their backs and the lure of El Dorado in their eyes; the laughing girls off to seek their fortunes in the goldfields dancehalls; the dejected diggers returning with their golden dreams crushed; the packers, the peddlers, the parasites, the swaggers, the down-and-outers. Sometimes, standing by the Waimakariri at Bealey, I have wondered if ever, in the whole of New Zealand, there is a road so romantic as this; or a more motley company of men and women than that which once came by Bealey, paused to rest the night at its hostelry, and passed on again next day, beckoned into Westland by a finger dripped in gold.'

[b]The hotel lives on[/b] After a decade at the Bealey Hotel, Fred retired and threw a final party in 1937 with guests coming from far and wide to kick up their heels. Then disaster struck. Fire broke out and the party-goers rushed to safety. Fred’s son Albie was badly burnt and died the next day. Poor Fred had a heart attack and took refuge at a neighbour's place. The pub was rebuilt again, only to be destroyed by fire in 1963.  It was a brave soul who eventually rebuild the hotel across the road from its fated site. The hotel is still standing today with the new owners giving it a makeover and cleverly using the legendary Moa to draw in a new generation of tourists.