Wrest Point Riviera

The forerunner of Hobart’s Wrest Point Casino was a luxury, 1930s hotel called Wrest Point Riviera.

However, there was an inn on the Sandy Bay site as early as 1839, when William Chaffey built the Traveller’s Rest

Source – The Tasmanian, Sept, 6 1839

The following photo was taken looking over Sandy Bay to the Travellers’ Rest Hotel.

The source and date of this photo is unknown.

One of the most significant figures in the story of the Wrest Point hotel was Ina Minette Lucas.

Source – Sydney Mail, March 30 1921

Ina was the wealthy widow of Guy Minette Lucas. The couple had married in Sydney in 1921, but set up home in Tasmania, where Guy had extensive grazing properties at Cressy. He died in 1929. As the estate was being wound up and the properties sold, 45 year old Ina had a new home built at Sandy Bay for herself and her two young children. It was completed in 1931. Ina called the house Wrest Point, but unfortunately I don’t know why she chose the name. Nor can I find a photo of the waterfront property, although it was frequently mentioned in newspaper social pages.

Mrs Minette Lucas gives a party at her home at Sandy Bay

Source – The Australasian, Dec. 16 1933

Five years later Ina decided to move to England, primarily to have her children educated there. Wrest Point was sold. This immediately created alarm for one local resident, who noticed the blasting of rock at the property below the water line, and the reclaiming of land.

‘At the lowest tide these rocks stood well out in the water, not near the land, and now all the beauty has departed. Has the Marine Board given permission for this to be done? Or is it that the Marine Board is merely apathetic, like so many of our citizens? We seem to just sit down and take everything that comes. For example, a gateway has been put across a right-of-way to the beach, presently we may find a padlock on the gate and we will just resent it and let it pass…Cannot something be done to stir up public opinion and an interest in our beauty spots?’ TASSY, LOWER SANDY BAY

The new owner was financier Arthur Drysdale, and yes, despite objections he had big plans for the site.

Application for a provisional certificate in respect of a house proposed to be altered in accordance with plans and specifications lodges with the Court at 147 High St., Sandy Bay, and known as Wrest Point, was granted to Arthur James Drysdale, Hobart, by the Hobart Licensing Court yesterday….An objector who opposed the application on the ground that the premises were not warranted by the requirements of the neighbourhood, alleged that he had seen 700 men enter one Hobart hotel and 200 enter another after trading hours. (Mercury, May 18 1938)

Well at least Ida Minette Lucas’s relatively new home was not to be demolished. Along with its name it was incorporated into the luxurious Wrest Point Riviera. The architects, Messrs Philp and Wilson, set out to construct something ‘in the so-called modern manner, modelled on ship-lines, the whole of the building being influenced by the latest developments in naval architecture.’ (Examiner, May 30 1938)

Such a spectacular setting.

The blasting of rock at the shoreline was to make space for an enclosed swimming complex shown at left in the above photo. It featured heated seawater.

Source Flickriver,com

Hobart’s elite celebrated New Year’s Eve in style.

A landmark, luxury hotel is always a temptation for the light-fingered. In May 1940 Brian Anderson, who had been employed at Wrest Point Riviera as a waiter, was charged with stealing a number of items, mainly silver and glassware. He insisted that he was not a thief, merely a souvenir hunter, and that half the population of Hobart had taken something from the hotel. He added that one occasion he watched a man carry a giant decanter out the front door. The Police Magistrate was unmoved by this defence. He responded that Anderson and the rest of Hobart would have to be stopped, and sentenced the young man to six months gaol.

Celebrities from around the world visited, including Noel Coward (1940) and Oscar Hammerstein (1946)