Hand-coloured photograph showing the coffee lounge for guests of the Plantation Hotel. The image shows green, yellow and red chairs arranged in sets of four with tables. The photograph has been mounted on white paper and is part of a blue folder which displays features of the hotel. An annotated note in blue pen at the bottom of the paper border reads 'GUESTS COFFEE LOUNGE'.

The building of the Plantation was one of the signals of “a new dynamism” aimed at addressing accommodation shortages in Coffs Harbour (Coffs Harbour: Volume II, 1946-1964, by Neil Yeates, 1990, p. 140. A physical copy can be accessed at the Coffs Harbour Library, https://coffsharbour.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/BIBENQ/6147080/336678,2.

The Plantation Hotel opened the 22nd of February 1955 and offered free beer all day, capitalising on the extension of hotel closing times to 10pm by the Liquor Amdendment Act 1954 (Advocate 25 February 1955).

The hotel was to have 24 bedrooms and other trading quarters, including lounges, parlours, a saloon, public bar, beer garden and bottle department. The Australian National University Open Research Library has photos of the curved hotel facade and a record of the building specifics, https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/118609.