Gulgong, where my great-grandmother Mary Spears was born, became known as the Ten Dollar Town following its appearance on the original Australian ten dollar note. There are plenty of stories behind that ten dollar note and the town, whose heyday was sparked by the 1870s gold rush. There’s a direct connection between the ten dollar note and my family, too.

Mary’s father, my great-great-grandfather John (Jack) Spears, was licensee of the Belmore Hotel, on the corner of Belmore and Herbert Streets, from the beginning of 1902, and Mary was born there in March of that year.

Jack was a farmer with two properties outside Gulgong, and also ran a butchery on Herbert Street. His wife, Anne Spears nee McGrath, seems to have been the one running the Belmore on a day-to-day basis. After three-and-a-half years at the Belmore, the family moved in the middle of 1905. Jack took on the lease of the newly built Royal Hotel, on the corner of Mayne and Medley Streets from that year, running it until November 1909.

During the Spears family’s tenure, the hotels were reported as being venues for events, such as meetings of local clubs, and Jack ran the publican’s booth at the local races and the annual exhibition of the Gulgong Agricultural Society. The Royal Hotel was also the site of a tragic death in 1908.

Jack’s business interests remained in Gulgong for a while. However, he sold his grazing properties in 1914 because he was unwell and unable to keep working them, and he and his family eventually split their time between Sydney and Gulgong over the following years. Jack died in Sydney in 1943, and Anne died there in 1956.

The Royal Hotel still exists, but is now known as the Ten Dollar Town Motel, its new name recognising the town’s reputation from being on the ten dollar note.

One of the images on the original ten dollar note is the Times Bakery, on Herbert Street. Jack’s brother, James (Jim) Spears was apprenticed to the bakery’s owner William Thompson, managing it when Thompson became ill, and eventually buying it for £920 in November 1900.

Jack and Jim, the brothers Spears, were occasionally confused with each. Perhaps because they shared not just the same surname, but also the same first initial, and were both businessmen in Gulgong.

Jim built quite a reputation as proprietor of the Times Bakery, developing it into both bakery and provision stores, sponsoring community events, and even offering catering for special occasions. It was “a very extensive business when his was the only local bakery, and he was famous for his wedding cakes, sending them to various other towns in the State.”

Even a 1914 fire which spread from another business and caused significant damage and loss to the bakery, didn’t stop the success of the Times’ Bakery and Provision Stores. Jim was also quite an innovator, and recognised for successfully preserving fruit wrapped in tissue paper and packed in sawdust for six months.

After Jim’s death in 1933 his wife, Mary Ann Clara Spears nee Menchin, continued running the store. When she died in 1944 she was remembered for “social work carried out … at a time when distress was experienced in the town because of the effects of the depression …. many a good turn she did unknown to the public. To mention just one thing: Day after day she made rich, palatable soup in huge quantities and had it sent to people who were living on the dole.”

The Times Bakery is now part of the extensive Gulgong Pioneers Museum.

Selected references

Who Was on the New Decimal Banknotes?, Reserve Bank of Australia Museum, https://museum.rba.gov.au/exhibitions/the-decimal-revolution/portraits-on-first-series-of-decimal-currency/, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘The Good Old “Times”’, The Mudgee Guardian, 23 May 1901, p. 13, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156182809, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘The Gulgong “Times”’, The Mudgee Guardian, 6 June 1901, p. 13, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156176318, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘The Times Bakery & Provision Stores Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 4 July 1901, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156179885, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Gulgong News’, The Mudgee Guardian, 5 September 1901, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156177738, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Tenders Wanted’, The Mudgee Guardian, 21 November 1901, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156182032, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Gulgong News’, The Mudgee Guardian, 2 January 1902, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157693795, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Brevities’, The Mudgee Guardian, 31 July 1905, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157691500, accessed 20 February 2026.

‘The Royal Hotel, Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 3 August 1905, p. 13, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157688967, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Royal Hotel, Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 3 August 1905, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157686836, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Local Brevities’, The Mudgee Guardian, 10 August 1905, p. 16, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157691312, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Royal Hotel, Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 18 January 1906, p. 24, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157620125, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Local Brevities’, The Mudgee Guardian, 26 November 1907, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157619723, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Another Hotelkeeper at Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 18 November 1909, p. 17, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157680794, accessed 20 February 2026.

‘Royal Hotel, Gulgong’, The Mudgee Guardian, 2 December 1909, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157677842, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Death. Mr J. N. Spears’, The Mudgee Guardian, 4 May 1933, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162022645, accessed 19 February 2026.

‘Record of Worthy Deeds Left by Late Mrs. Mary A. Spears’, The Mudgee Guardian, 28 December 1944, p. 16, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article156422666, accessed 19 February 2026.

The Ten Dollar Town, Ten Dollar Town Motel, https://www.tendollartownmotel.com.au/single-post/2017/02/01/the-ten-dollar-town, accessed 19 February 2026.

Decimal currency 50th anniversary: When Gulgong became a town of note, ABC News, Nick Lowther and Melanie Pearce, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-12/gulgong-celebrates-50th-anniversary-of-decimal-currency/7156904, accessed 19 February 2026.

Photograph of the Belmore Hotel, Licensee Eli Allen and group, Belmore Hotel, Gulgong, 1872, American & Australasian Photographic Company, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, nX6mRQ0Y, https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/nX6mRQ0Y, accessed 20 February 2026.

Photograph of the Times Bakery, William Thompson & McGregor’s Times Bakery, Gulgong, 1872, American & Australasian Photographic Company, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Yj7Q0g79,
https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/Yj7Q0g79, accessed 20 February 2026.