The Castle

The Castle was built in North Beach in 1870 by Edward Hamersley as a holiday house for the Hamersley family.

Edward's son Samuel inherited the building upon his death in 1874. The building was sold in 1896 and soon after became North Beach’s first hotel. It was frequented by drovers and camel drivers stopping at the quarantine station at Star Swamp on their way to the Goldfields.

By 1939 the Forrest Amusement Park had been created next door to the hotel which boasted an open air picture garden, night tennis, deck games, and night cricket.

The Castle Hotel was owned by Mr Toby and located on the north-west corner of the intersection of Castle Street and Flora Terrace. It had a Picture Gardens, called Castle Gardens, on the south west corner of Flora Terrace and Lawley Street, behind the tennis courts, from 1938, and people would bring rugs to keep warm in colder weather. During the war, there were frequent blackouts, caused by power shortages and the policy of electricity rationing to one hour on and one hour off. When the power went off during a show, people either went home and returned one hour later, or chatted until the time passed.

Don Edwards recalls 'Some excitement could be expected when the canvas deck chairs, which were in lengths of four to six seats, suddenly collapsed with the occupants disappearing from view.'