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Former Royal Merrijig Inn - Port Fairy - Historic Area

Other Name Merrijig Inn Location 1 Campbell Street,, PORT FAIRY VIC 3284 - Property No B764 File Number B0764 Level State

[1/3] B0764 Former Royal Merrijig [2/3] B0764 Former Royal Merrijig [3/3] B0764 Former Merrijig Hotel

Statement of Significance

The Merrijig Inn was constructed in 1844 and was de-licensed in 1852 and subsequently purchased by the government for police offices. Courts sat there until 1860 and it also housed the officers of the Belfast District Road Board (from 1853) and the municipality of Belfast (from 1856-58). The two-storied section in Campbell Street was demolished c.1900 and the material was used to build shops at 62-64 Sackville Street.
The Merrijig Inn is one of the oldest surviving structures in Victoria and is a building which is fundamental to the earliest history and subsequent development of Port Fairy in the years of the 1840s onwards. Although only portion of the buildings survive, the surviving section has a distinctive architectural quality, characteristic of Colonial building erected in N.S.W. and Tasmania in the period prior to the 1850s and little seen in Victoria.
The surviving portion of the Merrijig Inn is a single-storied, cement rendered, stone structure located on a corner site facing the river Moyne. The building has an angled corner with doorway and the high, hip roof is one of the features of the building. The interior has been substantially altered, but the exterior is substantially intact. The pivotting window frames are one of the most interesting surviving features.
2010 Note: Building restored, with dormers added to roof, c.1984. Inn currently operates as a restaurant, with accommodation above.
Classified: 'Local' 12/05/1958
Revised: 03/08/1998
Part of Port Fairy Historic Area Classified: 02/03/1981.