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= The White Horse Hotel = The White Horse Hotel was a coaching inn in Melbourne, Australia known for the white timber horse that sat over its entrance. It was established by Patrick Trainor in 1853 in what was then known as Nunawading, and now called Box Hill; and gave its name to Whitehorse Road and later, the City of Whitehorse.

The hotel burnt down in 1895, was rebuilt; delicensed in 1921 and demolished in 1933. The statue of the white horse was placed on display on Whitehorse Road and later replaced by a replica in 1986. The original is now housed at Box Hill Town Hall.

History
Patrick Trainor, an assisted immigrant from Ireland, arrived in Victoria in 1852 with his family and in 1853, acquired 90 acres of land in Nunawading where he built a hotel on the corner of what is now Whitehorse Road and Elgar Road. The White Horse Hotel, a two-storey brick building, was a change-over for coaches on the Corduroy Road from Melbourne to Lilydale. The hotel was initially going to be called The Corduroy but Trainor, recalling "a handsome stallion coming down the long hill from Melbourne way" he had seen while out riding, called his hotel The White Horse Hotel. According to Andrew Lemon's History of Box Hill, it was the only brick building in Nunawading until the 1880s.

At the time, the Parish of Nundawading had a population of 254 (7) but Patrick's hopes of success must have been bouyed by the fact that at the time Whitehorse Road was a contender for the main access route into Gippsland (8).

The area grew and the Nunadwading Road Board was established on August 7, 1857 and in common with other areas the first meetings of the Board were held in a hotel, in this case the White Horse Hotel. Patrick Trainor was an inaugural member of the Road Board and also the treasurer. On September 9,1858 £600 belonging to the Road Board was stolen from the White Horse Hotel. In spite of newspaper advertisements offering a £100 reward for information, it was never recovered. There were suspicions that Patrick had taken the money himself. In 1859, Patrick faced the Insolvent Court and was declared bankrupt and thus ended up losing the White Horse Hotel.

Legacy
The White Horse Hotel was immortalised in verse by C.J. Dennis - his poem was printed in The Herald in July 1933.

Delicensed in 1921, the old White Horse Hotel, with its familiar carved sign, from 1853 the first changing place for Cobb & Co. coaches on the Lilydale run, is now to be torn down to make way for brick houses. In olden days the Old White Horse

Stood brave against the sky;

And ne'er a teamster shaped his course

To pass the good Inn by.

Far shone its lights o' winter nights

To beckon weary men;

By the long road where calm life flowed

It loomed a landmark then.

And many a right good yarn was spun

Mid pewter-pots agleam;

And many a friendship here begun

Grew riper as the team

Drew down the road its precious load

Of merchandise or mail,

And faced the ills of long, steep hills

To far-off Lilydale.

The tap-room rang to many a song,

While patient teams stood there;

And talk and laughter loud and long

Held nothing of despair;

For spoke they then, these bearded

men,

Of fortunes shining near —

Spoke with a grand faith in their land,

A faith that laughed at fear.

Gone are the days and gone the ways

Of easy, calm content;

Yet few supposed an epoch closed

The day the old inn went.

Now, past brick houses trim and cold,

The swift cars, speeding by,

Shall see no beacon as of old,

Shall see no brave White Horse stand https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2020/04/white-horse-hotel-at-box-hill-and.html?fbclid=IwAR1VB_tnfpi3VAwztpGcJyqGLIGCd2n5wVKs7n1Z0s5HLyDAv_tD83a1fR0

https://timegents.com/2017/08/06/white-horse-hotel-box-hill/