14/09/2026
Before the Open Hearth Hotel existed, this corner of Warrawong was barely a suburb...
In 1939, a three storey cream brick building went up on King Street, called Comrol House, and at the time it was one of the only buildings for miles.
After nine years managing Comrol House, Reginald and Alma Tolley saw an opportunity. A liquor licence was transferred from a pub in western NSW and on the 16th of June 1949, the Open Hearth Hotel opened its doors for the very first time.
It was named after the open hearth furnaces used at the neighbouring steelworks in Port Kembla and remained strongly tied to the steelworks for years after.
With barely another building in sight, one article described the Open Hearth Hotel as "looming up on the horizon like an oasis on a hot dry desert."
The place took off almost immediately. Within six months Tolley had already started work on a b**r garden and palm court that could hold a thousand people.
In 1952 Reg Tolley died under suspicious circumstances, making headlines across the state when detectives ordered his body be exhumed. No foul play was ever found. His wife Alma carried on running the pub until 1954.
Not bad for a pub nobody expected to last!
This is PART 1 of our Open Hearth Hotel history series. Part 2 dropping next week.
If you have a memory, an old photo or a story from any era of the OH, drop it in the comments or send us a message.
Photo credits: Wollongong City Libraries and the Illawarra Historical Society / Noel Butlin Archives Program, Australian National University.
