The same year the Theatre Royal hosted Lola Montez performing for the diggers who threw gold nuggets at her feet, many of which the Shamrock staff took as tips while cleaning.

By this time the Shamrock had become the main hotel in central Sandhurst (as Bendigo was then known) and was the accommodation of choice of visiting dignitaries to the valley's goldfields district including governor, Charles Henry Darling.

Dame Nellie Melba was one of the notable guests of the hotel during the Edwardian era, staying in the third floor corner suite opposite the Bendigo Post Office clock tower and demanded its hourly chime be turned off.

[citation needed] Other notable guests included Harry Lauder, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, John McCormack and Richard Strauss.

In the 1970s the Shamrock, like many grand hotels around Australia, had waned in popularity and was under threat of demolition as one of several sites in being proposed for speculative office blocks.

The Victorian Public Works Department subsequently undertook a major restoration project at a cost of approximately $2.5 million which was finally completed on 14 April 1981.