20 October 1849        Grace Darling Hotel

The grand opening of the Grace Darling Hotel at Brighton took place on 20 October 1849. The hotel was named after the British heroine who rescued survivors from the wreck of the steamship Forfarshire which ran on to rocks near the Longstone lighthouse on the Farne islands off the coast of Northumberland in England in September 1838. The Register of 10 October reported that the licensee, Charles Calton, stated the hotel would have ‘the comfort of an English home’ and also that ‘boats and bathing machines will be supplied as the season advances’. Another large banquet was held there on 16 December1854 after the laying of the foundation stone of St Jude’s Church by Bishop Short. In March 1855 the Brighton Council began to hold its meetings in the hotel; but by 1867 the building was being used as an Industrial School for children and was under the control of the Destitute Board and later still, in October 1874, became the first home of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institute established by William Townsend.

H.A.F. Taylor, History of Brighton South Australia, 1958, pp.69-70.