Page 88 - Port Douglas Magazine 34

LION’S DEN ROARING

FOR A NEW PACK LEADER

WORDS by Rosie Wang
“Last orders!” After 130 years one of the oldest continuously From inauspicious beginnings the Lion’s Den has now turned into an iconic
operating hotels in Queensland, the infamous Lion’s Den Hotel, ‘must stop’ attraction, a rest area and a venue dear to many a local’s heart.
is up for sale. With over 6.75 picturesque acres and bordered by the pristine waters of the
little Annan River, it’s now also a scenic campground. It’s the perfect place
The present owner, Judy Fry, after running it for the last 16 years and aged for a rest stop or a getaway and if you can’t be bothered to pack a tent, there
70, has decided to pass on the baton. She will be passing on to the next is even glamping with safari tents and donga rooms. It’s easy to find, just
owner an old part of Australian history, complete with all it’s quirkiness, opposite the field with the camel!
original features and walls that hold many a memory of wayward nights and The restaurant offers the usual bistro fayre from burgers, schnitzels, the ‘Den
shenanigans.
Salad’ and fillet and T bone steaks with its all day famous Den pizzas (with
So how did an outback pub in the tropical boondocks that has never seen a the recipe guarded as securely as Colonel Sander’s KFC). At weekends there
real lion get its name and iconic reputation you may wonder? is an array of wonderful live music acts and events.
The name is attributed to a stowaway called Daniel who disembarked from The Lion’s Den is so much more than a hotel. It is a place ingrained in the
a boat in Cooktown and ended up working at the mine opposite the Lion’s local’s hearts and souls.
Den. When the mine owner looked across and saw Daniel standing forlornly A night’s entertainment finds many a visitor foot-tapping to the plethora of
by the entrance (which can still be seen today across from the hotel) he was great local (and international) talented musicians (invariably accompanied by
characterised as Daniel in the Lion’s Den. So the tin mine became known the local legendary Jack “the bones” Riles). Sipping the locally brewed Great
as the Lion’s Den and so in the sincerest form of flattery the hotel took the
name too! Northern lager under a starlit sky and the ball-adorned Cannonball Tree is
what memories of Lions’ Den are made of.
After gold was discovered by James Mulligan on the Palmer River in 1872, a “Quirky” is also an adjective that describes this unique place. The hotel even
rush of more than 20,000 people, with dollar signs in their eyes, descended has its own museum that portrays the history of the frontierland with shelves
on the area in 1873. It would have been around 19,998 if Jack and Annie Ross
hadn’t also arrived and realised that liquid alcohol could be alchemised into displaying tools and paraphernalia from the settlers that arrived in the 1870’s.
liquid gold. They opened The Lion’s Den in 1875, cleverly located where the I can remember my first visit (after, of course, having my photo taken riding
Little Annan River and Mungumby Creek joined (both gold prospecting on the back of the entrance lion) and on entering the bar looking around and
rivers). thinking “whoa… !”
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