Elaine's Railway Hotel

27/08/2026

You wanted umbrellas...

26/08/2026

Beer garden is coming along...

24/08/2026

Two hundred and thirty-two people live in Elaine, Victoria.

They've got a pub with two murders, a ghost, and a name it may or may not have pinched off a brothel madam.

And it's about to open again.

The Railway Hotel went up in 1874, back when a station sat across the road and passenger trains ran the Geelong to Ballarat line. For years the place was a pub, a brothel, or both, depending who you ask. It didn't officially become the Railway Hotel until 1912.

The government record says the town was named after Elaine of Astolat, out of a Tennyson poem. Locals will tell you it was named after the madam who ran the joint, same as Maude and Meredith down the road. Take your pick.

In 1922 the publican Henry Gray shot a bloke dead in the bar. Michael Fahey had come at him with an axe. Gray went to trial that December and walked.

Then there's Lenny. A miner, murdered in a room out the back some time in the 1800s. The old publican reckoned he mostly keeps to himself, but when he's in a mood he'll slam doors, knock glasses off the bar and drop the temperature on you.

The station's long gone. Freight still rumbles through but nothing stops. The school shut in 1998 with twelve kids on the roll. The footy club folded not long after that.

That left the pub. The only place in town to meet anyone.

Now there's a fresh coat of green on the weatherboards, Fáilte on the window, a snug out the front and a sign on the roof saying opening soon.

152 years old, and the lights are going back on.

Ever had a run-in with a pub ghost? Which pub, and what happened?

19/08/2026

NOW HIRING

WE ARE LOOKING FOR EXPERIENCED PUB CHEFS AND BAR TENDERS

WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY LUNCHES AND FRIDAY AND SATURDAY DINNERS

ABOVE AWARD WAGES FOR THE RIGHT PEOPLE

FOR ENQUIRIES CALL CAROLYN ON 0425739047

18/08/2026

It's almost time...
Come in for a glimse

18/08/2026