Earl of Zetland hotel in Adelaide city, from 1869, demolished in 1990s at height of its era of whisky galore
The Earl of Zetland hotel on the corner of Flinders Street and Freeman Street (later part of Gawler Place) in photographer Townsend Duryea's 1870 panorama of Adelaide city. Inset: The Earl of Zetland in 1958, with the ornate section (later plastered over) at right being the former freemasons' hall.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia
The Earl of Zetland hotel, from 1869 on the northeast corner of Flinders Street and Gawler Place, Adelaide city, was demolished in the mid-1990s for an office building.
At that time, it had become best known, under publican David LeCornu, for having one of the largest collections of single-malt whiskies (more than 360) available for tasting anywhere in the world.
The first landlord of the Earl of Zetland hotel in 1869 was Thomas Bastard, son of the city baths manager, at the corner of Flinders and Freeman Street. (Freeman Street, later to become part of Gawler Place, was named after Mary Ann Freeman, who owned Town Acre 234 from 1837.)
The hotel opened at the same time as the adjoining Freemasons Hall that became the first permanent home of the Lodge of Friendship until it outgrew those premises in the early 20th Century and eventually moved into its new Grand Lodge on North Terrace, Adelaide city, in 1927. The Earl of Zetland hotel and the Flinders Street hall became shared premises. Of the hotel licensees, Maurice John Sheehan, from 1913 to 1925, had one of the long associations.
The Earl of Zetland became a favourite meeting place for many organisations and groups and was always crowded at lunch time with public servants from nearby government buildings.
An added attraction in the 1980s was introduced by publican David LeCornu who established the Earl of Zetland hotel as the first specialist malt whisky bar in Australia. LeCornu was first importer for the William Cadenheads whisky brand and built the hotel’s collection to more than 360. The Earl of Zetland became the home to three Adelaide whisky clubs that all started in 1985 and met there until December 1995, when the hotel was demolished.
LeCornu was a founding member of the Free Settlers (the Adelaide branch of The Gillies Club, Australia) and was possibly Australia’s first independent bottler, importing and bottling many stellar whiskies under his own Laird’s Club brand. He also was a driving force behind starting and running the national malt whisky championship (or Australian malt whisky tasting championship), held for the first time at the Earl of Zetland in 1989.