The Railway Hotel, a large brick hotel placed opposite the site of the railway station in Ravenswood, is one of a handful of buildings which survive from this once important mining town. It was built about 1901 for John Moran and is the second hotel of this name he operated on this site The discovery of several important goldfields in Queensland in the nineteenth century formed a major component in the development of the North.. The need to access and exploit gold finds determined the path of railways, the establishment of related industries and commerce and the location of settlements. Some of these were short lived 'rushes', where tent and shanty townships disappeared almost as quickly as they rose. Other settlements based on goldfields became established towns with government and civic buildings, shops and family homes and survived as such. A few became important centres, only to fade away as gold yields fell. Ravenswood was one of these. The area was first settled by Europeans following the establishment of Bowen in 1861. Pastoral runs were soon set up in the hinterland, including the area on which the Ravenswood field was to develop. The first gold in north Queensland had been found at Star River in 1865 and there were other brief rushes before a substantial find was made at the Cape Diggings in 1867. This triggered further exploration and gold was found at Merri Merriwa, the run on which the town of Ravenswood stands, in 1867, although it was reported as being on the adjoining property of Ravenswood, the name by which the field was always known. Much of the gold initially found was in a triangle in and around three dry creeks which soon formed the focus for a tent and shanty settlement. Ravenswood gold was in reefs and a small battery was first set up in 1869, followed by the Lady Marian Mill in 1870. The settlement was also surveyed at this time, but by then the goldfield itself, and the buildings and streets already established had shaped the town and the survey merely formalised what was already in place. This can still be seen clearly in the irregularity of the major streets. Ravenswood was gazetted as a town in 1871. At this time it had 30 hotels and a population of about 1000. The original timber hotel was moved to the opposite side of the road to make way for the construction of the new hotel and burned down shortly afterwards. 1901 was a year of fires and whole blocks on both sides of Macrossan Street were destroyed. A number of buildings, including the Imperial Hotel, were replaced in brick. Bricks had been made locally in Ravenswood since the early days and production capacity increased to meet the demand of the early 1900s. However, it is said that the bricks for the Railway Hotel were constructed at Moran's property at Connolly Creek by an Italian brickmaker. It is possible that this was the first major brick building in Ravenswood as his advertisements for the hotel stress the number of bricks used in the construction, which suggests a certain novelty value. The new hotel offered budget accommodation in a basement level and better quality rooms on the top floor. Moran is thought to have installed a water supply system from the London Mine, situated opposite the hotel, with the water being pumped by a hand pump on the balcony, for which the drain can still be seen. The Moran family ran the hotel until the 1950s, when it was taken over by the current family of publicans. The Railway Hotel underwent extensive renovation in 1988. The verandahs were repaired, the building was painted, a hydraulic lift was installed to bring supplies from an old cellar below the footpath, the cold room was removed from a former saloon, the saloon was restored, the front of the old bar was incorporated into a new bar. Furniture throughout the building was restored and the bedrooms were furnished. Further work was done on the building when a grant was made by the Department of Environment in 1996 to allow brick piers to be repaired.