Emu Hotel
Description
A large hotel building built in a number of stages. The earliest is a principal two-storey section constructed of stone with red brick quoins with a hipped roof.
To the rear of the principal section is an early two-storey addition also constructed of stone with brick quoins. Its roof form has been modified to form a gabled roof over one section, the other with a hipped and half gabled roof.
The masonry of the principal sections and early addition has been painted and the roofs are now tiled.
An early photograph of the hotel shows a concave verandah across the front façade with a semi-circular reveal centrally above the verandah incorporating the image of an emu. Although the verandah has been removed the reveal is still evident in the building façade.
The hotel was extensively altered in 1980 when single-storey additions were constructed at the front and the northern side. More recently, substantial single-storey additions have been constructed at the rear.
History
The first Emu Hotel in Morphett Vale was built by Alexander Anderson on Section 609 (now the corner of David Terrace and Main South Road, opposite St Mary's Church).
The hotel traded successfully on this site until 1864 when the license was transferred to a public house on the present site, section 640, which had also been owned by Alexander Anderson.
The principal two-storey section of the surviving hotel is likely to be what remains of the 1864 hotel, while the two-storey additions appear to have been constructed soon after.
According to the Morphett Vale District Council rates assessments a brewery and a windmill were located on the site circa 1864.
The hotel was called 'The Emu' until 1967 when it changed to the 'Morphett Vale Hotel'. It reverted once more to the 'Emu Hotel' in 1997.
Photos courtesy of: Bruce Harry and Associates (2003) and City of Onkaparinga Libraries.