George Delahoy
George, son of William and Ellen was born at Navarre Diggings, Victoria on 27 Oct 1860. He married Ellen Eldridge on 21 Jun 1887 at Cathcart, Ararat, Victoria. His mother had given him land on the main street of Great Western down the road from the Exchange Hotel while he was working at the local timber mill. The timber mill went broke but George was able to turn this to his advantage by taking payment in sawn timber which he used to build a butcher shop and house. He borrowed money to buy the first animals to be butchered but he worked hard and was able to turn a profit quickly.

During this period Emma Louise was born in Great Western on 11 Mar 1889, George Oscar was born in Landsborough on 9 Aug 1890, William Eldridge was born in 1893, Henry Holdsworth (named after George's step-father) was born on 8 Nov 1896 and Walter Sidney was born in 1899.

When he sold the butcher shop he had £500 clear and was able to buy the Hindmarsh Hotel at Jeparit some time between 1890 and 1900. The Menzies family ran a business next door and George and Ellen's kids often played with the Menzies kids. One of those Menzies kids, Robert, eventually became Prime Minister of Australia.

Robert Gordon was born in Jeparit on 20 Jun 1902 and Rupert Daniel was born 16 Jul 1904. According to Robert Gordon's book, George and Ellen then sold the Hindmarsh Hotel and moved from Jeparit to a farm at Myall, near Sea Lake, probably in December 1907, where George became ill after driving an open buggy from Warracknabeal to Woomelang in heavy rain forcing them to sell the farm and move into Woomelang to retire. George "... just sat out in the garden, quiet mostly, with his own thoughts, but filled with stories from the past ..." When the Woomelang bakery came up for sale, Ellen bought it.

In 1912, while the bread was cooking and the hired baker was taking a nap, the bakery burnt to the ground and all was lost but with the help of friends around the town and an interest free loan from one Mr Dettman from over the road a new shop was built onto the front of the house and a new bakehouse arose from the ruins of the old bakery. By Christmas they were back in business.

By the end of 1912, George was becoming increasingly ill and eventually died on 6 Feb 1913. Later that year the family was visited by a Dick Jennings. He had a wheat farm near Speed but wanted to get out of farming and had heard that Ellen was looking to sell the bakery. They came to an arrangement whereby they would do a swap; the bakery for the farm and three hundred acres of sown wheat. In March 1914, Ellen and family moved to their new farm in Speed.

George's grandson, Robert E Delahoy relates the following story as told to him by his father, Robert Gordon: George operated or owned the hotel at Lascelles prior to buying the Hindmarsh hotel at Jeparit. While running the hotel at Jeparit, George was building a butcher shop at Rainbow, a town about 30 km north. On 1 Feb 1907, shortly before the shop was due to open for business, George's mother died and George and family relocated back to Great Western to take over the Exchange Hotel. The Jeparit museum contains the accounts book for the local store where George had an account. The final entry for George is dated 7 Dec 1907 paid in full, a full ten months after his mother's death.

The ensuing years were evidently very successful. The hotel was a waypoint for the Cobb & Co service and George, an experienced horseman, looked after the Cobb & Co horses. One night during an electrical storm while George was reshoeing a horse, a bolt of lightning spooked the horse and George was kicked hard in the chest. He never recovered and was forced to retire from the demanding life of the hotel. George and Ellen sold the hotel and reportedly walked away with over £10,000.

There's no mention of these events in Robert Gordon's book.

According to Ian Delahoy, Ellen's will implies that she had leased the Exchange Hotel prior to her death and offered the hotel for sale to the leasee after her death. If the offer was not taken up by September, George would take it over. It would appear that George was running the butcher shop in Rainbow during this period. When the offer expired in September, he sold up and moved back to Great Western, probably early or mid December.

The conflicting views of George's movements around this time remain a mystery.