Black and white photograph showing a staff party at the The Plantation Hotel. On the far left is Nora O'Neill, the manager of the kitchens, dining hall and function rooms. Fifth from the left is Edwin Russell, the owner of the Hotel.

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.