The Australian Women's Register

Hotel Victoria, Darwin was built by Ellen Ryan, one the Territory’s wealthiest women who owned land and several mining leases. The prestigious hotel stands on Smith Street and is a two storey stone building with a parapetted gable and verandahs. The hotel opened in 1890 as the Royal Hotel, then the North Australian Hotel until it became the Victoria Hotel in 1896. It withstood being seriously damaged during the 1897 cyclone with only part of it’s roof lost. A note on the back of the photograph states “The hotel where only boarders are served”.