A photograph of a temporary bar set up in Drouin on October 21, 1907.
Tom Ellis is the man standing by the door of "The Dew Drop Inn".
The bar was set up after the Royal Hotel on Main South Rd burnt down on April 18, 1907.
Hotel licensee John Trouville woke by smoke at 2am, and the family escaped with only their nightwear. The hotel and all of their belongings were completely destroyed.
Mr Trouville had only taken on the hotel license in March of the previous year.
The wooden building was one of Drouin's oldest structures, built around 1877 by Patrick O'Keefe.
The building was owned by G.W Ellis of Garfield. The Ellis family had built the Iona hotel in Garfield in 1904. They sold it and moved to Drouin in August 1907 to manage the building and the running of the Royal Hotel.
The family only stayed a short time, leaving for Melbourne in March 1908.
The new Royal Hotel was built as a single-storey building, opening in November 1907. A second storey was added in the 1930s.
Photograph and information courtesy of the Drouin History Group.
Visit drouinhistorygroup.org.au to discover more about the history group and its activities.