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Perhaps as early as 1901, Mark
Foy, attractive retail baron, world traveller
and sportsman, sold off nearly all his shares
in the elegant family owned department store
to finance what was to become Australia's first
health retreat.
Most of the construction of
the Hydro Majestic took place in 1903, the same
year Mr Foy successfully applied to have the
name of the township changed to the more appropriate
"Medlow Bath" The inner workings of the resort
were all thoroughly modern and included a steam-driven
generator imported from Germany. This generator
produced electricity for the resort and the
neighbouring township of Medlow Bath. In fact
the Hydro Majestic had working electricity four
days before the city of Sydney. The resort also
had its own water supply, steam laundry, freezing
works, sewerage treatment works and a telephone
system connected to the Sydney exchange.
Mr Foy hired Dr George Baur
formerly of the "Shoeneck" health spa on Lake
Lucerne in Switzerland to devise and supervise
a program of diets and weird and wonderful treatments.
The Hydropathic Establishment
officially opened on July 4th, 1904 during a
snowstorm. A group of special guests arrived
by train at Penrith where Mr Foy had a fleet
of motor cars waiting to drive them to the Hotel.
Artworks collected from all over the world were
housed in a gallery several hundred feet long.
Entertainment took place in the Casino Ballroom
(it was never used for gambling) the magnificent
dome is still in place today. The dome was pre-fabricated
in Chicago and shipped to Australia. The guests
strolled along the picture gallery to reach
the Grand Dining room, the half barrel vault
ceiling with its gilded features, is still much
admired.
The Hydro Majestic attracted
guests from around Australia and the world.
Famous Australian Opera singer, Dame Nellie
Melba sang at the hotel a number of times as
did English Opera singer Dame Clara Butt and
Nellie Stewart.
Australia's first Prime Minister
Sir Edmund Barton actually died in the hotel
in 1920. Other famous guests were Sherlock Holmes'
creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Julius Blau
of 4711 perfume fame, and the Rajah of Pudukkutai
with his Australian-born wife, the former Molly
Fink.
A number of well-known Foy
family friends also stayed at the hotel including
Hugh Ward, Dame Nellie Melba's Australian manager
and his son naturalist and anthropologist, Melbourne
Ward and Freddie Lane who was the first Australian
swimmer to win gold at the Paris Olympics Games
in 1900.
In 1922 fire destroyed Belgravia
and the gallery. Mr Foy however, took this loss
in his stride and commenced work on the New
Belgravia, which was to take fourteen years
to complete. In 1942 the Hydro was taken over
by the U.S. Defence Department and turned into
a hospital for American casualties from the
battles of the Coral Sea and South Pacific.
In 1946 a new building was
opened with bedrooms on the upper floors and
a large lounge downstairs complete with a huge
fireplace.
Mark Foy died in 1950 aged
86. His family, politicians, sportsmen and other
dignitaries attended his funeral. His many significant
contributions to Australian life spanned the
areas of medicine and sport to retailing and
tourism. Certainly he was a true pioneer of
the Australian hospitality industry. |
