Built in 1868, this is the oldest building in Marulan although very little of the original building remains now. The hotel has been continuously licensed for over 140 years. It was established when the railway line was being built and a huge number of railway workers camped nearby. It was called the ‘Terminus Inn’ as Marulan was to be the terminus of the line.
An ad in a Sydney paper in 1867 for the sale of nearby land, shows Chapman’s Terminus Inn was operating. The first publican was Richard Chapman who became very involved in town activities. He was Secretary of the Marulan Progress Association and the Show Committee and gave land for the church. He rented a house (possibly in Goulburn Street) to the Education Department for the first school here when it was moved from ‘Old Marulan’.
Richard’s son, Austin, went to school in Marulan and later became Sir Austin Chapman MP, in our first Federal Government. He was a strong advocate to have in the Nation’s capital in NSW. There are many stories relating to the hotel. Mr. John Hogg who owned the hotel in 1896 fell from a ladder while climbing up to light the gas lights. Unfortunately, he was fatally injured.
In the early 1930s, Eliza and Duncan Mclennan owned the hotel and their daughter, son-in-law and their family lived there too. One son, John Philpott, wrote a book on his memoirs and has a delightful description of the hotel at that time. There was no electricity, just a generator in the ‘putt putt’ shed at the back but, John said, it would often stop and then it was back to candles for everyone. It was the days of 6 o’clock closing and only bonafide travellers who lived at least ten miles away could be served after that time. Most nights, there would be a knock after hours from someone from Tallong or Marulan who professed to be a traveller. They were usually served.