The
Small Black Bull Inn
The Small Black Bull Inn was situated on the Moorabool River escarpment, overlooking Fyansford. Located just north of the road to Geelong it probably sought to take advantage of traffic travelling to the gold rush. While the site was known to have been present in the area after 1856, the fate of the building or approximate time frames of occupation are not known.
(See: Victorian Heritage Database Report generated 21/03/18)
​
Hmmm!
I can’t help but suspect there is some relationship (apart from similarity of name) between this inn and the Black Bull Hotel in Malop Street, Geelong, which was at the time a staging point for the coaches travelling from Geelong to the Western District. See: “Cabbage Tree Ned Devine”
Based on map in A Journey to Destiny
by John McNeill. Ca 1990 (p.13)
Site of the Small Black Bull Inn (north of Hyland Street).
Now being prepared for the new Gen Fyansford 'Panorama' release.
Wow! Imagine the view from the pub...
Blog #8
public houses
in & around Fyansford
More than...
just a comfort stop
In our house we have already many established customs.; my favourite of which is our withdrawal at around 5.30pm to the pergola where, irrespective of the weather, a quiet 45-minutes is shared - Archie (beaglier), Mary and I.
It’s a time for ruminating and solving the problems of the world.
My drink of choice a good slug of scotch with a dash of soda, Mary a G&T (or an occasional Manhattan). Archie is just happy to sit on either of our laps.
Mary, it’s whickie-time!
3.jpg)
On occasion I stay put 'till news time. Back in the winter of the first year I'd look up at the outline of the silos and, letting my imagination loose, see a twinkling light or two or three to the left of where the terminal once stood and I would reflect on drinks drunk by locals, workers en-ropute home and passers-by at the Small Black Bull inn. Though only one mention and no photos of this establishment (located to the rear of the property where the Fair View Hotel stood) have I found, my mind fills the blanks.
I see myself sitting in the valley west of the river. It’s the mid-1890s and behind me the Riverside Hotel (previously known as the Fyanstown or Swan Inn), the former Balmoral Hotel was being turned into a boarding house and only the Fyans’ Ford hotel still served liquor. I quietly contemplate the multitude of memories around me all fading over time…
Photos by JFimages
So!
What of the Small Black Bull Inn?
Don't know.
But, who could ever have imagined back then what would be happening to the landscape one and a half centuries later...
A Black Bull Ridge drive-through
(Oct., 2013)
​
