Deepwater Brewing is on the road to Emmaville. In the early 1900s Emmaville’s population was over 7000 people. Tin and Arsenic mining brought in the punters.Be lucky to be 500 now and I reckon in pre-Covid times they could all comfortably be accommodated in the two old pubs that are still open.
Both are grand old buildings, but they only have one thing in common. They both have an image of a black panther on their outsides. Chalk and cheese otherwise. Tattersalls Hotel has great bones. The high ceilings are wonderful old pressed metal, there’s four bar areas and plenty of room outside on the grass – but it was lifeless. The two owners were having a feed as the only patron sat sipping his middy underneath the gaze of stuffed Murray Cod.
The Club Hotel has plenty of life in it. Very friendly barman makes you feel very welcome and there’s a real buzz in the joint. Terrific looking menu, but I was stuffed after Deepwater. The walls are adorned photos of old football teams. What was odd is the hotel rooms come directly off the pub.
And why do both pubs have a black panther on the outside? In the ‘50s a local came across a huge black panther near the town. Over the next 10 years, various sightings were reported and livestock were brutally attacked. As black panthers don’t exist in Australia, the rumour circulated that a panther had escaped from a zoo. The panther was never caught, but its memory lasts to this day.
Tattersalls Hotel: 88 Moore St, Emmaville, NSW
Club Hotel, Irby Street, Emmaville, NSW
back of the ferry 