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Mar 14, 2003 90 kilometres west of Sydney, on top of the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia, is a building with a most unusual name. The Hydro Majestic Hotel in Medlow Bath has a history going back to 1851, when the first of three properties was developed on the site by Edward Hargraves. Hargraves received a grant from the government in recognition of his discovery of gold to the west of the Blue Mountains. Forty years later the 130 room Belgravia Hotel was established next door to “Hargraves House” and the adjoining “Tuckers House”. In 1904 a Sydney retail businessman, Mark Foy, had become such a supporter of hydrotherapy during his world travels that he bought the three adjoining properties and started building what is now the Hydro Majestic Hotel. Mark Foy spared no expense to create Australia’s first health retreat. The resort boasted it’s own steam driven electricity generator, imported from Germany. A specialist doctor, Dr George Bauer was hired from the Shoeneck health spa on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland to devise a full program of weird and wonderful treatments for guests at the “Hydropathic Establishment”. The resort opened its doors to guests on July 4 1904, in the middle of a heavy snowstorm. The guests, together with maids, valets and governesses, were driven to the hotel in a fleet of limousines after a short railway journey from Sydney to the foothills of the mountains. But patrons soon became tired of the strict health regime and numbers started to drop off. Undaunted, Mark Foy converted his Hydropathic Establishment to the Hydro Majestic Hotel in 1906 and this was an instant success. Visitors to the Hydro in its heyday included the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the opera singer Dame Nellie Melba and the Rajah of Pudacoota. Australia’s first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton had a less successful visit – he died at the hotel in 1920. The hotel suffered a devastating fire in 1922, but was soon rebuilt. Since then it has had a checkered history, being used as a convalescent hospital for American servicemen wounded in the battle of the Coral Sea in 1942 and suffering a gradual decline until it was completely renovated in the 1990’s. Today it is an important fixture in the Blue Mountains and to enjoy coffee and cakes in the lounge overlooking the magnificent Megalong Valley watching the sunset is an experience that should not be missed. About the author: I am an Englishman by birth, but migrated to Australia back in '72. Married and divorced there. Spent the last 3 years living by myself on a remote farm in rural New South Wales with no mains electricity, water etc. All power, heating was from natural resources (solar, wind, wood). "Met" a Swedish girl on the internet, came to Sweden for a holiday, loved the place (and the girl), moved to Sweden permanently Christmas 2001 and married the girl in Easter 2002. Living happily ever after... Email Robin Alan Bell: sosoft@ozemail.com.au ------------ Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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