Stage Number: MBSH.03.01.66
Group: Southern
Local Study Area: West End-South Brisbane-North Woolloongabba
Epoch: Early 19th Century
Street Address: Corner of Hope and Russell Streets, South Brisbane
Latitude & Longitude: -27.47616667,153.01894444
Time Link: 1843
Map Link: TBA
Image Time Point: TBA
The Captain Piper was the first licensed hotel in the Moreton Bay region. It was a 50-foot-long, one-storeyed building on high ground off Russell Street built by John Williams (trader, coalminer and settler) in 1843. It served as ale house, frequented by bullock drivers and other thirsty people arriving from or setting out for the stations in the interior. Williams was one of the first Europeans to settle in South Brisbane, and in 1842 he obtained a three-year contract to ‘provide a sufficient punt and boat to carry passengers’ across the river. His notoriously slow ferry was later known as the ‘Time Killer’.
Williams, John (1797–1872)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/williams-john-2794/text3983), sighted 21 July 2017; Brisbane Courier, Tuesday 22 June 1926
The Captain Piper Hotel can be seen on corner of Russell and Hope streets in this extract from an 1844 Town Land Survey of South Brisbane. Brisbane Images BCA2078.
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