How times change: The Botany Bay Hotel

Botany Bay Hotel, 1948/2013, City of Botany Bay Library Services & Museum    

If walls could talk the Botany Bay Hotel would certainly have stories to tell. It opened in 1865 and is possibly one of the oldest pubs in the eastern suburbs. 

It was originally located on the edge of Botany Bay which in the 19th century certainly would have been a quiet tranquil spot. Over the years major industrial establishments such as Bunnerong Power Station (1929-1973), and Australian Paper Mills (early 1900s -) set up business in the area, as did smaller firms like Floodvale Woolworks.

In the 1970s the hotel's landscape was transformed even further when the construction of Port Botany saw it lose its foreshore location. The photo below shows just how much land was reclaimed for the port. The grassed section in the middle of this photo roughly marks out Botany's original foreshore.

The Botany Bay Hotel during the late 1970s. Courtesy of Roads and Maritime NSW

Standing outside the hotel today, on what can sometimes be a truck heavy section of Botany Road, its hard to believe that the hotel's patrons once would have heard the lapping sounds of the bay and felt its strong breezes across their faces.

Samantha Sinnayah, Curator