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The hotel itself was a weatherboard, elongated stmcture with separate doors
leading into the dining-room, bar and store ~ a design which allowed an easy
movement of customers from one selling area to the other. The Lafranchis invited
further custom by offering a number of additional services: a bootmaker leased an area
at the end of the hotel as his workshop;^^ miners making the joumey to Allendale were
able to stable their horses overnight in the cobbled yard at a charge of sixpence and
from the farm, locals could buy the family's unused hay. These complementary
busmesses attracted custom to the hotel and were an integral part of its success,
allowing the Lafranchis to diversify their income in what might be seen as 'traditional
peasant' manner.
With three hotels at the crossroads competition between the hoteliers was
strong, the Shamrock over the road always threatening to steal the Irish customers and
the Blampied Inn the EngUsh. Like the Swiss Mountain, their names were a clear
declaration of their owners' ethnic heritage. At Lafranchis' hotel the locals were able
to buy liquor imported from Ballarat and the much renowned red wines from Yandoit -
- the popularity of the latter among Australians evident in its later christening as
'Yandoit plonk'.^^ The Lafranchis operated a small vineyard but made insufficient
wine to sell on a commercial basis, though their involvement in this activity reveals
their remarkable energy and preference for their own home-grown product. In the
store, which was located at one end of the bar and distinguished from the drinking area
by the presence of a large set of scales for weighing out the produce, the Lafranchis
sold a variety of grocery items as weU as their own home-made cheese. This last
product, which signified another contribution from the farm, also gained markets in
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