This image was scanned from the original glass negative taken by Ralph Snowball. It is part of the Norm Barney Photographic Collection, held by Special Collections.

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I think this might be the Royal Hotel, that was situated on the opposite corner. I was searching for the photo of the Royal in Newcastle City Council Library's Photobank and up came a photo of the same building above. On this Photobank image is typed "ROYAL" ADAMSTOWN. Info on the page:

newcastle-collections.ncc.nsw.gov.au/library?page=search#...
Yep, it's the ROYAL.
See this from the NMH, 5/5/1950
trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/157873949?searchTerm=%
Maybe also known as the
ROYAL CROWN HOTEL (& MRS. LOVE'S HOTEL)
Source: Matthew Ward

Comment by cassfarr: This is possibly the hotel that was managed by Septimus Turnbull in 1902. At that time Septimus had children 5 children aged under 10. Septimus also ran a blacksmith shop in Union St. He had a brother in law named William Court.... a court took over from Septimus as publican. Septimus is shown in another Snowball photograph..... the Adamstown blacksmith shop with his 7 brothers. The brother to the far right in the blacksmith photo closely resembles the man in front of the Adamstown hotel standing on the right near Snowball's wagon.

I agree that the road to the left of the pub doesn't slope downwards as much as it should if it were the current day Nag's Head Hotel. How well do the upstairs windows match between the above photo and the current Nag's Head?

dunedoo: Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Pubs of Australia, and we'd love to have this added to the group! UON Library, University of Newcastle, Australia: The following comment was recorded during the Luminate Exhibition held in the University Gallery during September-October 2010. Now the Gates Hotel UON Library, University of Newcastle, Australia: The following comment was recorded during the Luminate Exhibition held in the University Gallery during September-October 2010. No it is not. Gates was the Commercial Hotel. novoimagery: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon] It isnt the Commercial Hotel or the Gates as its now known. I have a photo of the Establishment in my collection taken in 1903 and though similar the verander is different and the roof pitch is all wrong not to mention the facade which says Commercial Hotel (you can still see a bit of it scince its been rendered over in the right light today) and the surrounding cottages which are different and or missing. Now as for the Adamstown Hotel it was in Victoria road / street these days. If you take a stroll down Victoria street east from Brunker road about 200 mtrs on the right you will find a building minus the verander which i suspect is the old pub. It was the Bryant nursing home for as long as i can remember now a gents hostel offering cheap accomodation. Having lived in the suburb all my life i always knew it was an old pub and it ticks all the right boxes. UON Library,University of Newcastle, Australia: According to the Federal Directory of Newcastle: 1901 page 66, Adamstown Hotel was on the corner of Turnbull Street and Union Street. In the New South Wales Post Office Directory: 1920 page 883 The Adamstown Hotel is listed as the corner of Victoria and Union Street. What today is known as Brunker Road was then Brunker Road, Union Streat and Charlestown Road. The Union Street section was between Glebe and Lockyer Streets Adamstown. From Glebe road, Adamstown Hotel was situated on the right side of the street. This means that the Adamstown Hotel was situated opposite the Adamstown Library the corner of Brunker Road and Victoria Street. There was a Hotel on the corner of Victoria and William Street (now Gosford Road) called the Royal Standard Hotel. The Gates Hotel was the Commercial Hotel New South Wales Post Office Directory: 1920 page 881 Publicans listed for the hotels from the above mentioned sources were as follows: Adamstown Hotel - S Turnbull, 1901 Adamstown Hotel - R Everson, 1920 Royal Standard Hotel - Joseph Simmonds, 1901 Royal Standard Hotel - Fans (Frances) Bartley, 1920 Commercial Hotel - Geo T (George T) Langbridge, 1920 novoimagery: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/uon] This photo above couldnt have been on the corner of Brunker road and Victoria street opposite the Library because Victoria street has a very steep incline right to the corner, take a look at the Courts Adamstown Hotel now the Nags Head which is also in this collection, on the same intersection and you will see what i mean. This must be the Royal Standard 'Adamstown Hotel' as it was also known on the corner of Victoria and Gosford. The road gradients are exact and the building still stands today. Im thinking Mr Snowball or somebody else just forgot to add in Royal Standard, its also listed as being in Victoria Road now Victoria street not Union street which would have been the frontage. Joseph Simmonds was the Licensee at the time but his name also appears on the Commercial Hotel now the Gates at the same time but NSW Liquor Licence records suggest that William Russell held the licence at the time, strange? hedfram2: I agree with above comments. Most strange indeed. If the image is that of the Adamstown Hotel, Septimus Turnbull would have been licensee in 1902. He became licensee in 1898 and was succeeded by John Court in 1903.----Court's Adamstown Hotel ! hedfram2: Thanks to novoimagery I have visited the site of the former Bryant Nursing home. The sth part of that corner is very steep This image shows fairly flat land. The former nursing home now displays the name "Royal Standard house"--almost declaring that at one stage it had been the relatively large Royal Standard Hotel. There exists documentary evidence to suggest that the licence of the Royal Standard was transferred to become the Kotara Hotel now the Blackbutt Hotel. I don't think this image dated 9 September 1902 is that of the Royal Standard at Adamstown.--one thing the topography is all wrong. hedfram2: If one looks above the door below the verandah there is the name " William .....ll" as licensee. William Russell was never licensee of the Royal Standard Hotel, Adamstown . He was however licensee of the Royal Crown Hotel , Adamstown from 1889 to 1890. James Gray became licensee from 1891. The Royal Crown was located on the corner of Victoria St and Union St {stated earlier now Brunker Rd}.Given the nature of the flat land it would have been opposite the Adamstown Hotel on either the corner where the library is now or across the road where the Rural Bank once was. In its history Adamstown has played host to four hotels. Willow Tree2011: Does anyone have an explanation for the floating gaslight above the horses on the left? Has someone altered this photo for reasons unknown? I'm told gaslighting was not installed along Union/Brunker Road Adamstown until 1911. If this photo is correctly dated c1902, then someone has deliberately dropped in a fake gaslight. And I agree with hefram2 - this is the Royal Crown Hotel in Adamstown. If the photo was taken between 1901 and 1906 then the publican and his wife standing in front are Arthur Carnley and Isabella Love Carnley (Sands Directory). If it was taken in 1907 then the couple standing in front are Adam Hogg and Jane Love Hogg (she died in 1907) (Sands Directory). Adam Hogg remainded the licensee until 1910 (Sands Directory). If it was taken between 1912 and 1914 then the couple are again Arthur Carnley and Isabella Love Carnley (Sands Directory). Arthur Carnley's and Adam Hogg's in-laws, Robert Love and Mary Jack Love were the original builder/owners of the Royal Crown in 1873/1874. As hedfram2 has already noted, another son-in-law, William Russell was the licensee in the 1880s following the death of his father-in-law. William took over the Dudley Royal Crown in the late 1890s before building the Commercial Hotel at Glebe-Court Road in 1901/1902. He was the licensee of the Commercial from 1910 through 1914 per the Sands Directory - no idea when Simmons took it over. UON Library,University of Newcastle, Australia: Thanks for this information, Willow Tree2011. This photo was scanned directly from the original glass negative taken by Ralph Snowball. We have not changed it. I will check with my colleague on return to work on 9 January to ascertain the source for the date - it is usually taken from Snowball's record on the lid of the box containing the glass plate. Willow Tree2011: Thanks for the response - I'll look forward to your verifications. On page 69 of 'Photos of Old Newcastle, From Stockton to Minmi', by John Turner, Hunter History Publications, 1980, reprinted 1983, is a street scene of Adamstown captioned "So many priceless old photos bear little or no identifying detail. This could be the intersection of Brunker and Glebe Roads at Adamstown. Note the nostalgic advertisements." On the right side of the street, about halfway along, is Court's Adamstown Hotel. Using some magnification, the white brickwork and internal balcony are clearly identifiable as matching the photo labelled as "Court's Adamstown Hotel circa 1906" in the Snowball collection. In this 'Brunker - Glebe' photo the two story building opposite the Adamstown Hotel is the Royal Crown - the balcony and roof line are also clearly identifiable using magnification. There are no discernible gaslights in the 'Brunker - Glebe' photo (dating the photo pre 1911?), but, there are electricity poles on the left side of the street including in front of the Royal Crown. Does anyone know when electricity was run along Brunker Road? Also in this 'Brunker - Glebe' photo, one or more buildings are on the vacant lot next to the circa 1902 photo above (which many of us believe to be the Royal Crown). The c1902 photo does not have electric poles but does have the single gaslight hanging in mid air. So, a mystery or two still to be resolved. At least we have identified one photo showing the Royal Crown and the Adamstown Hotel together - we just don't have a date. - yet. UON Library,University of Newcastle, Australia: Many thanks to all for your enthusiastic debate and interest in this image. It is great to have our efforts appreciated and to receive all this wonderful information. As promised, I have consulted with my colleague and our practice has been as follows re the titling and dating of images. 1. If the date and/or title are rendered without square brackets, they were either on the negative itself, or on the lid of the box containing the negative. They were therefore assigned by Ralph Snowball himself. 2. If they are enclosed by square brackets, they were assigned by someone else, such as Norm Barney. As the date on this photo is not in square brackets, it can be attributed to Ralph Snowball. The gaslight is not actually suspended in mid-air - it is fastened to the veranda post, as you can see in the original-sized image or in this detail clipped from the original image. Willow Tree2011: Thanks for the followup and verifcation that the gaslight belonged in the photo. My software didn't pick up the support bracket attached to the balcony railing. This still leaves the date of the photo in question though. The only information I've found so far regarding the implementation of gaslights in Adamstown is from a Hunter District Historical Society publication that says "The first Post Office at Adamstown opened in 1875, water was connected to the municipality in 1892, a railway line was opened in 1900, and gas lamps were installed in the main streets in 1911." Does anyone have information to authenticate the gaslight date? beachcomberaustralia: Re. the lamp - I seem to remember reading somewhere that is was a requirement in law for all NSW hotels to have a light outside, which served as an advertisement and to light the way out for pissed-as-parrots patrons. Some of the lamps were enormous, and presumably ran on oil before gas and/or electricity. Willow Tree2011: Thanks for that Beachcomber. An oil lamp makes more sense for c1902. Must have been a bit of daily undertaking to get them filled and lit from the second story balcony. beachcomberaustralia: [http://www.flickr.com/photos/72770800@N08] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamplighter Willow Tree2011: Perfect explanation. Thanks Beachcomber. The lamp on the Royal Crown looks more candle size than oil – wouldn’t have put out very much light but since there were no other close light sources around, it was probably quite visible up and down the street. SoloGaz: Hedfram2 is correct re the licensee, it does read William Russell above the door. This would identify this establishment as The Royal Crown in Adamstown. I'm going to put my 2 shillings worth in and say that it is on the same corner as the Rural bank once was i.e., Brunker and Victoria Roads, simply that gutter and drainage work lends that the main road (Brunker) would not have a drainage gutter across it. Just my thoughts.