William Horton (publican)
| Royal Bull's Head Inn | |
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Royal Bull's Head Inn, 2015
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| Location | Brisbane Street, Drayton, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 27°36′04″S 151°54′48″E / 27.601°S 151.9133°ECoordinates: 27°36′04″S 151°54′48″E / 27.601°S 151.9133°E |
| Design period | 1840s - 1860s (mid-19th century) |
| Built | 1859 - 1950s |
| Official name: Royal Bull's Head Inn, Bull's Head Hotel | |
| Type | state heritage (archaeological, built) |
| Designated | 21 October 1992 |
| Reference no. | 600838 |
| Significant period | 1850s (fabric) 1847-1879 (historic use as hotel site) 1892-1952 (use as post office) |
| Significant components | out building/s, furniture/fittings, kitchen/kitchen house, pathway/walkway, well, trees/plantings, terracing |
 Location of Royal Bull's Head Inn in Queensland
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The Royal Bull's Head Inn is a heritage-listed hotel at Brisbane Street, Drayton, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1859 to 1950s. It is also known as Bull's Head Hotel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. It is currently managed as a trust property by the National Trust of Queensland.
The Royal Bull's Head Inn, a two-storey timber and brick building, was constructed in 1859 as a major extension to William Horton's well-known 1847 hotel at Drayton.
In the early 1840s, squatters first began to take up pastoral runs on the Darling Downs, thus initiating European settlement of the area. In 1842, Thomas Alford set up a store near the boundaries of Westbrook, Gowrie and Eton Vale runs and at the junction of two routes which led through Gorman's and Hodgson's gaps in the Great Dividing Range. The place was known to the Aborigines as chinkerry (water springs up) and to Europeans as "The Springs". In 1844 Alford gained a license to sell liquor and a cluster of buildings belonging to artisans and other businesses developed at "The Springs" to serve the needs of pastoralists, bullock drivers and travellers.
In 1847, an inn of superior quality was built by William Horton at what was by then called "Drayton". Horton (sometimes referred to as Orton), was an ex-convict who had come to the Darling Downs to work for Henry Stuart Russell of Cecil Plains, by whom he was highly regarded. Horton had run a hotel for George Thorn at Ipswich in the early 1840s and, with this experience, set out to make his new hotel a by-word for comfort and service on the Downs. He called it the 'Bull's Head' after "Champion" a prize Durham bull on Cecil Plains station. The hotel soon became an important meeting place for squatters and also had a thriving bar trade. It offered lodging, a staging place for animals and was used for auctions, meetings and other social functions. The inn was large and well equipped with a parlour and all the requirements for a constant stream of visitors, including travellers, clergymen, settlers and anyone travelling to the area from the coast. Meetings held at the hotel ranged from state governance to horse races.
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