This hotel was built in Longfield Street in 1861 by William Munro on the corner of Seaby Street where the current B.P. petrol station is located.
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Next door to the left was the Camp Hotel and across Seaby Street, on the corner of Longfield Street, was the Shamrock Hotel.
Mr Munro had previously owned a hotel, also named the Constitution, out on the goldfields in Commercial Street, Illawarra.
He held the license for the hotel on the goldfields from 1858 to 1861 which was at the height of the big gold rush.
When the gold rush ended, he was granted a transfer of his publican's license to operate from his newly built hotel in Longfield Street, Pleasant Creek.
This substantial new building had 3 sitting rooms and 12 bedrooms for public use. In 1864 Munro was granted an extension of his license to serve beer at the Cricket Reserve (Central Park) and in 1865 he was also granted an extension to serve beer at the Race Course.
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Mr Munro held the license until September 1870 when he put the hotel up for sale. At auction, the reserve price of 1,440 pounds was not reached and it was bought later by a Building Society. A new licensee, Mr Pine took possession in December 1870.
There were several more licensees after Mr Pine, before the hotel was destroyed by fire on a Saturday afternoon in February 1879. The fire also destroyed the butcher shop next door, a house down the Lane occupied by the local Policeman, a storeroom, stables and fencing.
The Stawell News of February 17th 1879 reported that "had there been any water available when the fire started it is more than probable that the further progress of the fire might have been stayed.
"A horseman immediately started for the fire brigade station to ring the fire bell, but by this time the flames had completely burst out. The whistle was sounded and the alarm being taken up by the fire bell, the Brigade were soon in readiness. The reel was lashed to a cab by which a few firemen also proceeded and a horse having been obtained, was harnessed to the engine and it started off for the scene of the fire."
By this time a large crowd had gathered at the scene to watch the fire and they assisted with helping to save some of the furniture from the Hotel and the Policeman's residence. The fire brigade attached a hydrant to the fire plug in Seaby Street near the corner of Longfield Street and attacked the fire from the laneway at the rear of the Hotel.
In less than 10 minutes after the fire alarm was sounded, the whole of the buildings were one sheet of flames. The brick portion of the Constitution Hotel was completely gutted and the wooden section was razed to the ground.
At the time of the fire the population lived closer to the gold mines around Big Hill and the Hotel was not rebuilt.
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