About Grove Hill

Grove Hill is an historical hotel about 150klms south of Darwin. Here is some of the history:

In December 1870 they were digging for the Overland Telegraph between Adelaide and Darwin. The men found alluvial gold at Yam Creek (just up the road from Grove Hill). After about 2 years some more blokes found a gold reef that was visible above ground for about 200 yards (I think that's about 180 meters).  I've been down to have a look at Yam Creek, he hole is about 60 meters or so deep and there is an old steam engine there. Anyway after the discovery lots of settlements appeared Grove Hill was one of them.

In 1889 they finished building a railway that ran between Darwin and Pine Creek (the old railway) to service all the mines that had popped up in the area. Grove Hill was one of the stops. In the early 1930s Bill and Margaret Lucy built the pub so travellers could have a chat and a cool beer in the beer garden. It was also used as a post office. There is a news article on the wall about how great it was to finally have a place to stop and have a drink during the hot dusty journey. The pub was built from materials salvaged from some of the old mines. Many of the locals still build their houses out of salvaged material. If you go for a drive around the area you can find lots of old mines for both tin and gold. there are still some mines running today. Most of the miners live in Pine Creek or on site.

Mrs Lucy's Bedroom

The Lucy family were evacuated during the war  to Adelaide but returned in 1946  to run the pub again.  Margaret Lucy continued to run the pub until her death in 1972. I think she got very ill in the end, there is a hospital area set up and one of the locals once told me that he could often hear her keening away in the background, from her bedroom. Anyway after her death the pub shut down for a while and became a bit dilapidated. It was purchased by Jan Hill (i used to think that the name Grove Hill had something to do with her name but it doesn't) who fixed it all up and turned it into an historical hotel. About 14 years ago Stan and Mary Haeusler bought the pub, they continued to build up the business and introduce the monthly free BBQ that is held on the last Saturday of each month. Sadly Mary passed away last year, Stan still runs the pub with the help of his family, Bernie and 2 new staff  Shane and Carol.

Memorial to Elvis - by Mary

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