The development of Lake's Creek as a village in its own right began in earnest in 1871 with the establishment of industry, educational, secular and social buildings in the form of construction of the Central Queensland Meat Preserving Company, school, church and public house.

Lake's Creek Hotel became a "jumping off" point for the horse-drawn coach service to Emu Park, which was a four-hour journey one-way from Rockhampton.

[1] While the business generated from the neighbouring meatworks would have been an influencing factor in choosing the site of a public house, it would not necessarily have precluded the decision to construct a hotel due to the rapid expansion of settlements, industry, agriculture and pastoralism between the Lake's Creek and Emu Park.

[1] The first public house to be constructed opposite the new meatworks establishment in 1871 was considered by The Morning Bulletin as an unusually large and commodius hotel.

While no plan or sketch of the Star Hotel could be found, its description is given as sixty feet by forty, containing seven or eight rooms, and fairly furnished.

[1] Under the direction of James Cadden, the first licensee, the Star Hotel hosted social events that drew patrons from Rockhampton, including celebrations for the 1872 New Years Day Picnic.

Travel to and from Lake's Creek for the southern settlers was by punt, the standard form of transport in the years prior to the construction of the first bridge across the Fitzroy River.

Northern settlers were able to make their way to the hotel by way of a bush track that would eventually become Lakes Creek Road by means of foot, horse or buggy.

Reports at the time suggested that the fire was started by rats gnawing through shelving in the bar, causing bottles of liquor to fall and somehow ignite.

[1] This second structure continued to serve local patrons and travellers along the Cawarral Road and was purchased in 1890 by Thomas McLaughlin (Senior), the founder of Rockhampton's famous "Mac Beer" and owner of the Fitzroy Brewery in Quay Street during the 1880s and early 1890s, until his death at sea in 1892 whilst travelling to New Zealand.

His company, Thomas McLaughlin & Co., was managed by his sons Joseph and Daniel who continued to run the Lake's Creek Hotel.

During the 1980s, the hotel once more passed into local ownership, being purchased first by the McClymont family, then to Leigh Wanless, before being sold to the current owners in 1994.

[1] It was not long before the demands of the growing village of Lake's Creek, local settlers and travellers to the communities along the Cawarral Road and the township of Emu Park, caused the owners of the hotel to consider expanding their establishment to supply the needs of an increasing patronage.

On April 2, 1895, The Morning Bulletin advertised for tenders for the erection and completion of extensive hotel premises, Lakes Creek, for D. McLaughlin, Esq., under the direction of Messrs. Eaton and Bates, newly established architects for Rockhampton and surrounding districts who offered to provide designs with all the latest improvements.

[1] Messrs GT Eaton and AE Bates formed a partnership after working for John Kirkpatrick in Sydney, where they practiced for a short time before heading North to Rockhampton where their services would be found to be very much in demand by the prosperous and growing township and surrounding areas.

[1] On April 18, 1895, The Morning Bulletin published an editorial of a successful tender by Mr. T. Moir for the construction of the new Lake's Creek Hotel for the sum of £1773.

The article provides details of the floor plan of the new hotel, including descriptions of rooms, hallways, amenities, servant's facilities, stables and a brick cellar built under the bar.

A large store room was adjacent to the lounge, which formed one side of the main entrance hall, and had both internal and external access.

Adjacent to the dining room and running along the western side of the hotel was the pantry and kitchen with a large brick fireplace, the chimney of which extends through the above bedroom.

Behind the kitchen a smaller stairwell opened onto the verandah and behind all a scullery, a wash house of similar size and a mans room.

[1] The Lakes Creek Hotel, incorporating elements of the Victoria Free Gothic style of architecture, is a two-storey timber building, clad predominantly with weatherboards.

The building is generally L-shaped in plan, with twin faceted bays forming a symmetrical frontage with an asymmetric roof.

[1] On the first floor balcony along the eastern elevation, new timber lattice board has been erected above the railing for added privacy for the private quarters.

A partition has been built to close off the adjoining entrance from the verandah to the original bar-room, and the bay doorway has been converted into a window.

[1] A false ceiling has been built in the new lounge area that once housed the bar rooms and provides SKY-Channel viewing for guests.

Access is still available to the eastern verandah from this new lounge, and its area is defined by placement of lattice work, which runs down one side of the old passageway.

A cornerstone for the developing village, the prosperity of the Lake's Creek Hotel has fluctuated with that of the meatworks, whilst remaining a focal point of the local community since the construction of the original public house in 1871.

[1] The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.