One of Perth’s most storied heritage pubs has turned a new page. The Broken Hill Hotel in Victoria Park officially opened its Two Mile Spring Bar. It is a sprawling alfresco space named after the natural freshwater spring that once sat beside the site and served as a vital rest stop for travellers journeying between Perth and Albany, long before the hotel ever existed.
A Pub With Civic Roots
The Broken Hill Hotel is no ordinary local. Originally designed by Robert McMaster (later Victoria Park’s first Mayor) and built for Alfred Russell (the Town’s second Mayor), the hotel has anchored the community since it first opened in 1898. Few venues in Perth carry that weight of civic history within their walls.
Former Town of Victoria Park Mayor and long-standing patron Trevor Vaughan said the redevelopment was a deliberate act of preservation as much as renewal. “The Broken Hill Hotel has always been much more than a pub. It’s part of Victoria Park’s identity and one of those places where generations of locals have celebrated milestones, caught up with friends and built lasting memories,” he said.
The Spring That Shaped a Suburb
Located approximately two miles from Perth’s original General Post Office, the natural freshwater spring that once existed beside the hotel gave travellers and their horses a place to rest. Historians also credit it with influencing the distinctive bend in Albany Highway directly opposite the hotel; a curve that motorists continue to navigate daily, unaware of its origins.
“The spring was once a place where people naturally came together,” Vaughan noted. “More than a century later, that’s exactly what this venue is about.”
What the New Bar Offers
The Two Mile Spring Bar transforms the hotel’s outdoor footprint into one of Perth’s largest heritage pub alfresco spaces, featuring lush landscaping, generous seating, and two 13-foot cinema-grade LED screens for live sports broadcasts. The refreshed menu leans into elevated pub staples, share plates, and locally sourced produce, paired with a curated drinks selection.
The opening adds another chapter to Victoria Park’s growing reputation as one of Perth’s premier dining and entertainment precincts — a neighbourhood whose identity, it turns out, was shaped in no small part by the very ground beneath this pub.
