Just how historic is South West Rocks' Heritage Guest House and Cafe?
A 100+ year story complete with an engagement called off, deaths, a billiard room and multiple new names.
Ellie Chamberlain
October 23, 2025
Growing up at South West Rocks, I remember getting fluffy pancakes with ice cream and maple syrup from the Heritage Cafe as a kid. Only on special occasions, of course.
Three decades on, the cafe still stands and remains a popular venue for the coastal village’s visitors and locals. It hasn’t changed too much in all this time, especially not the facade. The attached Guest House also remains the same.
Phil Lee, from the Macleay River Historical Society (MRHS), spoke to the Mid North Coaster and explained the deep history of the iconic spot.
📍The land passed through hands: What is now known as the Heritage Guest House and Cafe was once just a plot of land on Livingstone Street, on which the guest house was originally built. The land belonged to Rebecca Lawson, a niece of builder John Lawson, who in 1886 sold it to John Meazey, a contractor at Trial Bay Gaol.
💍 An engagement called off: Romance soon followed the property exchange, as Meazey and Ms Lawson announced their engagement to be married and started to build a future home on the Livingstone Street land. However, the engagement was called off during the early stages of construction.
💰New owner: The property was then bought by William Arthur, a farmer at Spencers Creek, who completed the building for himself.
The days of the Jubilee Guest House with the Arthur family in the front doorway.
Image: Dulcie Bowden Collection, MRHS
🛏️ Accommodation: In 1887, Arthur left his farm to open the building as an accommodation house, naming it Royal Jubilee House after Queen Victoria’s Jubilee that year.
Jubilee House quickly became established as the North Coast’s top accommodation houses.
Arthur would meet steamer boats at Jerseyville wharf and bring guests, through the sandy scrub, to his accommodation house.
🌲 Another bit of history: Arthur was responsible for planting the Norfolk Island Pines in Livingstone Street.
🏠 Change of name: Sometime after 1920, Arthur leased out the guest house and it became known by the name of Pacific Guest House.
The Pacific Guest House Image: Pat Riggs Collection, MRHS.
☕️ The Cafe: In 1925, the lessee was Fred Tyne who built a billiard room as a new attraction for South West Rocks. This room later became the Heritage Beachside Café.
🤝 Sold again: Tyne purchased the property from Arthur’s widow following the longstanding owner’s death in1933.
® ️National Trust: The Pacific Guest House, now known as The Heritage Guest House, is now registered by the National Trust as a rare example of a seaside accommodation house once common along the coast.
Credit: Phil Lee, Macleay River Historical Society. You can visit the museum in South Kempsey.
References: Carey, Caroline(2015) Tales of Trial Bay; Kempsey Shire Council (2006) State Heritage Inventory, Full Report; MRHS files
Thumbnail: (L) The Pacific Guest House Image: Pat Riggs Collection, MRHS (R) The Heritage Cafe and Guest House as it stands today. Image: Heritage Beachside Cafe Instagram.