Elephant Bridge Hotel

Darlington’s Elephant Bridge Hotel is a historic bluestone pub located on the Hamilton Highway, around halfway between Derrinallum and Mortlake. The hotel was built in 1842, which makes the hotel possibly one of the oldest pubs in Victoria. Situated on a sweeping bend of the highway overlooking the Mount Emu Creek and nearby Mount Elephant, Darlington is one of those “blink and you miss it” towns. In fact, the pub is the only business in the town still operating, a few shops were said to have operated up the road but are long gone today. As well as being one of Victoria’s oldest pubs, the hotel also makes the claim of being Australia’s most haunted hotel. Legend has it that former publican, Adeline Satchwell, remained on at the pub long after her death in the 1940s. Other ghosts have said to be seen in the pub too, along with strange noises and various items that keep to get moved about in typical ghostly fashion. The Elephant Bridge Hotel is a bit over an hour out of Geelong and is generally open Wednesday to Sunday. The hotel has cheap rooms available if you want to make a night of it, alternatively the closest towns are Derrinallum (17klm) and Lismore (21klm) to the east or Mortlake (24klm) to the west.