Dargo Hotel

The Dargo Hotel is an iconic High Country Pub that turns on the charm each and every time you visit.

With the discovery of gold to the north on the Crooked River and Grant in the 1860s, Dargo developed as a stopover point, a town where fresh vegetables and supplies could be obtained. Nichol’s Royal Mail Hotel and Anticevich’s Mail Rest Hotel were built at the time to cater for the miners. Old timers tell of miners walking out into the still cold air of Dargo late at night after a session at one of the pubs and collapsing onto the ground to be found the next morning with their beards solidly frozen into a puddle.

By 1881 the gold was gone and with it the miners, some took up residence in Dargo which now boasted a population of 200. At the Licensing Court that year a ‘Certificate of Renewal and Removal’ was granted to Patrick Coloe of the Castleburn Creek Hotel for the establishment of a new hotel in Dargo opposite the Court House to be known as the Bridge Hotel.

Because of its central location the Bridge Hotel soon became a popular venue and functions of local cricket matches. Prospecting Associations and weddings were held there. In March 1898 disaster struck and the hotel was destroyed by fire – everything was lost and only the building was insured. A new and larger structure was built on the site, parts of it were constructed from buildings demolished and removed from the old township of Grant.

The Dargo Hotel was then born. Since 1882 only four families have been involved in the running of the pub, three of them can trace their forbears back to the early days of the town. In the mid 1980s the name was changed to the “Dargo Hotel”. Today it still caters to the needs of the local community and also to the new hand of travellers that visit Dargo and the high country.

The Dargo Hotel today features accommodation, bar, bistro and of course good old country hospitality. Stop by and say hello to the locals, grab a wonderful meal and a cold bev from the bar as you sit by and listen to some high country tales.