James Rixon
Publican – Eden & Bega
James Rixon, my 4th great-grandfather, was my first known family publican when I began delving into family research. Other family members told me that he ran the Crown & Anchor in Eden, which remains one of the area’s oldest surviving buildings. From there I became curious about the man behind the pub. What other pubs may he have been involved with? Who else in the family may have been pub owners? To my surprise, several direct ancestors or their siblings were pub owners in Australia in the 1800s.
This is a brief story of James Rixon and his publican years in Eden and later Bega.
James was born in Sydney on the 5th of January 1806 to former convict parents, James Rixon & Amelia Goodwin. He was one of two surviving triplets who were believed to be the first European triplets born in the colony. Below is a clip of their birth announcement in the Sydney Gazette (bottom right). I’m glad to hear the boys had a promising appearance!
James married Elizabeth Hoare in St Peter’s Church of England in Campbelltown on 27th August 1833. The couple had 13 children, born from 1834 to 1858.
The first evidence of James Rixon as a publican was on 25th June 1845 with the licence butt for the Crown & Anchor in Eden and his name as the licencee.
Crown & Anchor, Eden
The Crown & Anchor, located at 239 Imlay St, Eden, is believed to be one of the area’s original substantial buildings. It still stands and was open as a bed & breakfast fairly recently, but is currently not open to the public.
It is believed that James Rixon commissioned the original building on leased land. When the land owners fell into financial trouble, James was able to purchase the land.
During their publican years, both James and his wife Elizabeth were well known and praised for their kindness to all in their community.
It seems that James had a true entrepreneurial spirit, as he was not only a publican, but there are also stories of his involvement in the whaling trade (although I’m yet to find primary evidence to support this).
In 1859, there are even reports in the local newspaper of James arranging for the British & American circus to come to Twofold Bay and perform with a German Band, highly trained horses, Arabian ponies and clown Armstrong. These sorts of events reveal that the Eden community was growing into a very civilised town and not a backward pioneer settlement.
The Crown & Anchor was also becoming a reputable place for travellers to stay. In 1860, the hotel was promoted in the paper along with a quote from Lieutenant Colonel Freeling, who had stayed there and praised it as more of a comfortable home than an Inn. At the time, the building also underwent extensive additions with an aim to accommodate several hundred people.
Gold Fever!
With the gold rush all over areas of New South Wales & Victoria, reports of gold around the greater Eden area began to circulate. In 1861, a young party of men had come to town and told James that they had discovered gold at an area called ‘Wag Wag’. Having heard about their discovery, it appears that James quietly went out for a bit of prospecting himself and came back with an ounce of gold. As that was the only tale of James and prospecting, I’m guessing his fortunes weren’t made in gold, and we know he continued in the pub trade!
Bega Family Hotel
The Crown & Anchor played host to the wedding of James and Elizabeth’s daughter Matilda to James Edward on the 7th January 1862. By April, the family had moved from Eden to Bega, where James had taken over the Bega Family Hotel, previously operated by John Needham. James continued to own the Crown & Anchor for a few years after they moved, with other publicans running the hotel.
The Bega Family Hotel is another special historic location that still stands, and is now the home of the Bega Pioneers Museum. At the time James ran the hotel, it would have been a simple single-storey structure that was extended over the more recent years. The historic picture below of the Bega Family Hotel shows the building some time after James & Elizabeth were running the hotel, when extensions had been made. As was often done at the time, while operating the Bega Family Hotel, he also offered transportation services between the hotel and the Merimbula steamer.
Petty theft was a problem in the 1800s just as it is now, with some entertaining stories popping up in the archives, including one in December 1866 where someone was in the garden of Mrs Ann White of the Victoria Inn (another historic hotel landmark in Bega that still stands as a private residence) and attempted to steal beehives full of honey. I’m guessing they stirred up the bees inside, as they didn’t get far with the hives before dropping them and abandoning their attempts to take the hives! A few nights later, James had valuable bed linens hanging on a clothesline stolen. At least linen is an easier item to run away with than a hive full of bees!
Commercial Hotel, Bega
According to the publican licence records, by 1867 James had moved from the Bega Family Hotel to run the Commercial Hotel, also in Bega, on the corner of Carp & Gipps St. When James moved on to run the Commercial Hotel, this wasn’t the last of the Rixon family involvement in the Bega Family Hotel. Records show James’s son John Robert Rixon was the licensee in the 1910s.
The original Commercial Hotel building run by James was not the art deco brick building that stands today. It was a simple single-storey timber building when they lived and worked the hotel, with James being one of the first licencees. A second storey was added later, and in 1935 the timber building was demolished and replaced with the brick structure that still stands today.
James remained publican of the Commercial Hotel until his death on the 12th September 1873 at the pub. This is where stories have been told of him dying as a result of a fall down the stairs in the pub; however, I’ve not found any evidence so far to support this. Obituary notices describe him dying at the hotel, but of a long and painful illness, not a sudden tragic fall.
Elizabeth briefly took over the licence for the Commercial Hotel, but following a disagreement over the lease amount when the building ownership changed hands, it was time for Elizabeth to move on. By 1874 she had taken over the licence for the Merimbula Hotel, now known as the Lakeview Hotel, Merimbula.
When Elizabeth moved to the Merimbula Hotel, the Underhill family, another well-known pub-owning family, took over running the Commercial Hotel. Before Elizabeth moved, an announcement was placed in the paper about her leaving and how kind and attentive a hostess she had been. Although pub licences tended to be held by the husband when a married couple ran a pub, it’s important to acknowledge that Elizabeth was a crucial part of the great reputation the couple had for their hospitality.
As a Queenslander, I’ve not had a chance to visit all of these locations, but it is amazing to know that all three buildings exist in some form. The Crown and Anchor still proudly sits on the hill as a private residence. The Bega Family Hotel is now a museum, which I can’t wait to walk through when I do get the chance to visit. And the Commercial Hotel, although it has been rebuilt, still serves beers where ancestors of James & Elizabeth Rixon can sit and enjoy the hospitality on the land where they once welcomed travellers and thirsty locals in the 1800s.
Thanks to some truly dedicated family historians, it’s evident that there’s an abundance of descendants of the early Rixon families. If you have come across this article and are part of the family, please comment below with how you are related to James & Elizabeth Rixon or any of their extended pub-owning family.
My stories are based on the articles and records found in the archives. If you have more to tell on these stories, please share in the comments so none of the tales are lost over time.