Woolingubrah Hut: the 19thC Hotel that arrived as a flat pack

The Canberra Times

Tim the Yowie Man visits the Woolingubrah Hut in southern NSW. The pre-fabricated hotel was imported from the United States as a flat pack well before the Allen key was even invented!

Transcript

00:00 Who doesn't love a flat pack? It's hard enough putting together a bed or a desk

00:05 but can you imagine assembling a hotel? That's right an entire hotel.

00:15 Check out the Woolloongabra Inn near Cathcart in southern New South Wales

00:19 which was imported in 1869 as a pre-fabricated building and is one of

00:25 only two known surviving examples of these buildings in New South Wales.

00:32 It was built to provide accommodation for travellers to the Cyandru goldfields who

00:36 arrived by ship at Eden and Pambula. If you look closely there are numbered

00:41 pieces, reminders of its pre-fabricated origins long before the invention of

00:46 Allen keys. The gold rush was brief and in 1871 the inn was sold to the Nicholson

00:51 family and it was a treasured family home for well over a century. Purchased

00:57 by State Forest of New South Wales in 1986 it was lovingly restored in 2001

01:02 and is an unexpected and welcome sight when exploring the southeast forests of

01:08 New South Wales.

01:11 (gentle music)

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