Australia Hotel

The Australia Hotel was a hotel in Miles which was destroyed by fire on 7 August 1937.

Damage estimated at £10,000 was caused by the fire which burnt out the Australia Hotel, a bank, two garages, a cafe, a chemist's shop, a hairdressing salon, a grocer's shop, and an auctioneers' offices.

Reports state that a bucket brigade was organised, but the fire, which started at 7.30am, quickly spread to Simmonds's garage and the chemist's shop. The flames then wiped out the Murilla Motor Garage.

By this time the fire had got completely out of control. Hundreds of men were working with axes and crowbars, in an endeavour to demolish the Auto Cafe, situated between the Australia Hotel and Simmonds's garage, but the heat drove them back.

The Australia Hotel was then ablaze, and the efforts of the fire fighters were concentrated on saving Giles and Sons' new concrete building. Men were posted on the roof, and willing hands formed a chain and passed buckets of water to them to try to combat the flames, but the terrific heat again forced them to abandon the roof and the building was gutted.

The fighters then turned their attention to Hunters Ltd., between whose premises and the concrete wall of Giles and Sons' building was a 14ft. passageway. Their efforts were successful, as they checked the fire after an hour and a half's struggle.

Had this building caught fire, the whole northern side of the town would have been wiped out.

Meanwhile, the Bank of New South Wales, which joined the Murilla Motor Garage, caught on fire, and the townspeople prevented the flames from spreading across the street to the Windsor Hotel.

The street was littered with furniture, groceries, and the contents of the gutted shops. Several of the landlords suffered severe losses.