Harvest Home Road – Epping

Previously called Harvest Home Lane this road is named after the old Harvest Home Hotel. A bluestone hotel of five rooms which stood facing High Street at the corner of Harvest Home Lane.

It was built in 1869 by Henry LUDEMAN , a German immigrant who had arrived in Victoria in 1854 and in 1868 had bought the ten acres of land on which he built the hotel. It was to serve as a hotel until it was de-licensed by the Licences Reduction Board in 1909. Ludeman’s son received compensation of 353 Pounds as the owner and the licensee James O’Connor received 75 pounds.  Among the dozen or so Licensees over the intervening years was a David  ANDERSON who was there from 1882 to 1885. Reports during that time show that he was fined for not having a lighted lamp over the licensed premises, fined for having an unlicensed dog and was robbed by a fellow called William Taylor.

After the hotel closed in 1909 the building was used for a few years as a small store by Ellen BACKMAN and Amelia CRAWFORD. It then became a private residence until it was eventually abandoned and became derelict. The foundations of the old hotel were exposed during road works in January 2005 but all traces have now disappeared.