With the surveying of the town and building of the new pumping station and channels in 1909, Waikerie had become the hive of activity. Men who had come to work on the Government Schemes had to find accommodation mostly in tents, many of which were in the area near the landing, while the S.S “Maggie” was moored nearby to relieve the accommodation crisis for those coming to look for land available.

During this time there were no premises licenced to sell liquor, but there were plenty of boats travelling along the river from Morgan and very soon a steady supply of sly grog became available.

It was thought amongst people that a Hotel similar to Renmark Community Owned hotel needed to be established in Waikerie, resulting in negative results after much discussion amongst those who keenly supported the plan. Eventually, a Hotel was built on the Corner of Coombe Terrace and McCoy Street, with the foundation stone being laid by Mrs M. Kerrison on September 6th, 1911. Trading began in 1912, and in the year 1913, the first Manager was Mr C D Wallace. 1909 was the year a community-owned hotel was first proposed, but it wasn’t until the 1960’s that a delegation from the Waikerie Club secured a free-hold lease and Hotel became a community facility.

In the Year 1939 MR J.F. Coveney, who had been the licensee for 10 years, sold the Hotel to the South Australian Brewing Company,

Becoming a body in its own right in the mid-eighties, it was not until 1994 that the process to purchase the freehold entirely from SA Brewing was started and subsequently achieved in 1997.

5 years later, in June of 2002, the opening of the new renovations of the Waikerie Hotel was true to form in that, YES, it was a community-owned hotel, open to all.