The Winsome

Service Providers

NGO's & Government Departments providing services at the Winsome

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History Of The Winsome

In 1882 down in the damp, swampy end of a little village that was affectionately called, "Sleepy Hollow" there was a handy bit of land near where the ships could turn around, and head back down the Wilson River. Because this bit of real estate was close to the action from over at the town on the eastern side of the river and near where the punt ferried people, stores, stock, and vehicles across to get to Nimbin and other places on their pioneering journeys it was thought it might be a handy place for a hotel.

Maybe there was 'something' around before 1882 but we do know that the North Lismore Hotel was bought on 4 February 1882. 1883 was a year when there was a lot of action in 'Sleepy Hollow". The Base Hospital was built, more hotels, baker, butcher, chemist – it was all happening. The big event in 1884 was the building of Fawcett's Bridge over Wilson's Creek because traffic was increasing and the puntsman was becoming increasingly unreliable – maybe the hotel was too popular? In 1884 Alexander Brown purchased the 'goodwill' of the North Lismore Hotel.

From 1884 to 1888 the hotel underwent several renovations and was reopened as the Junction Hotel on 25th February 1888. From photographs of the building in 1890's it was of a timber construction. In 1908 the Junction Hotel was run as a boarding house. Not much is known about the building after that but perhaps there was a fire at some stage as this regularly occurred in timber buildings with open fire places and when smokers went to bed inebriated.

There existed a Winsome Hotel at Tunstall, on the Casino side of Tunstall Gap up to 1888. At some time this hotel changed its name to the Tuncester and held various licenses. On August 13 1925 there is a description of a new hotel opening at the old Junction Hotel site. The Tuncester Hotel license was transferred to this new hotel and it was opened as the Winsome Hotel.

The Winsome Hotel has since had a long history as a popular meeting place, hotel and pub. In 1980 the Winsome Hotel was included on the National Trust Register and officially designated as a 1925 building. This date remains displayed at the front of the Winsome building.

The hotel has passed through many hands and has had notoriety amongst the Lismore and northern rivers community as being a venue for the music scene. The Winsome underwent significant modifications and renovations 1n 2005 and 2006 when the new owner, Dallas Bayly, purchased it and designated it for luxury accommodation. It was reopened on September 30 2006 with its new and current look.

The significant change that occurred in 2009 is that the Winsome Hotel was bought by the Lismore Soup Kitchen and renamed The Winsome from where the Winsome Café will serve meals to the people doing it tough and provide low cost accommodation for those seeking pathways out of homelessness.

January 2013 Floods

Please find a collection below of Youtube videos that were made to show the Winsome during the floods of January 2013.

History - The Lismore Soup Kitchen

The Lismore Soup Kitchen Inc. has been in operation since 1990 to provide meals, accommodation and social support to various groups of marginalised people including people with mental health problems, indigenous people, people suffering drug and alcohol dependency, people with gambling addictions who are left homeless and people living in rough isolated situations that are looking for social contact as well as the basic essentials of life. Lismore is an area with a high number of people that are, for varying reasons, homeless.

It was first established in February 1990 in the basement of the Church of Christ building on the corner of Magellan and Keen Streets in Lismore. It was the vision of Don Ferguson, the founder, who now resides at Dorrigo, to provide breakfast and the evening meal each day to people that he was meeting in the parks and on the street. When Don had to move on for employment reasons, he left a band of enthusiastic volunteers to carry on the work.

Under the leadership of Pat Rossitor, the Soup Kitchen moved from the Church of Christ basement into the parks along Wilson's river, where there was a sense of community and friendship, but where the weather would often make it uncomfortable for both the volunteers and those seeking meals.

In February 1991 the local Police Chief, Charlie Jurd, saw the need for the Soup Kitchen to have a home out of the wet, and offered the facilities of the Police and Youth Community Services Club. This provided a much needed venue for the preparation and serving of the meals, however, when there were large numbers of folk looking for meals, or when the club needed the facilities for other purposes the Soup Kitchen found itself out in the park again.

During these times the number of meals that were provided each night ranged from a quiet 10 to a busy 35 meals. In early 1992 it became more and more apparent that there was a need for the Soup Kitchen to have its own home where meals could be prepared and where people could come throughout the day for a cup of coffee and some friendship.

An old warehouse in Union Street South Lismore was purchased for the use of the Soup Kitchen. Volunteers came in and painted and scrubbed the warehouse into a food hall and a day centre. On the 24th of August 1992, the Lismore Soup Kitchen served its first meal from the new premises.

The warehouse became known as Merriwa, an aboriginal name meaning "a good place", and from August 24th 1992 until 2001, was open every day of the year serving both lunch, and an evening meal. Merriwa was open 12 hours per day and as well as serving meals offered a visiting doctor facility, counselling services, bible study groups and general interest meetings. With the exception of providing meals these services were dis

When a fire destroyed the warehouse in 2001, meals were provided at the home of a volenteer, Colin Ellis, for around a week then the Soup Kitchen opened in a tin shed formerly used by the railways in Norco Lane to continue providing lunchtime cooked meals..

In 2009 the Lismore Soup Kitchen purchased the Winsome Hotel and has been providing accomodation and daily meals at its new home since then.

The Soup Kitchen over the years has been the "Port of First call" for many marginalised people in the local community, as well as for itinerant people that stop off in Lismore on their perpetual journeys. As such, volunteers at the Soup Kitchen meet many people and learn first hand of their needs, and where possible, they point them in the right direction for help, whether it is for housing, or for medical help, or to find establishments where they can detox or go into some form of rehabilitation.

People Using Our Services

The people who actively seek out the Soup Kitchen are from various backgrounds and may fall into the categories:

• People suffering from social isolation
• People suffering from abusive family backgrounds
• People with problems of addiction.
• People suffering a range of mental illnesses.
• People of indigenous backgrounds who have lost their social identity.
• People who for various reasons are homeless and living in parks and under bridges etc.

People who are suffering from social isolation often do not look after their health and may suffer from diseases and medical conditions that could be addressed easily with a little care and attention. Many of these folk are attracted to the Soup Kitchen and benefit from the companionship provided.

People coming in for meals are asked to make a small donation of $1.00 for a cooked lunch, take-away sandwiches for their evening meal and a bottomless cup of tea or coffee during opening hours.

What is Homelessness

People are considered homeless when they do not have the accommodation that is safe, secure, appropriate and affordable.

Like most places, the homeless population in Lismore includes people who suddenly become homeless, as well as people who have been homeless for some time. Those who suddenly become homeless are often in some form of crisis because they do not have the plans and/or the means of where they can go. Other people experience homelessness as a way of life; that is, they are chronically homeless, sleeping in public places regularly or unable to move beyond emergency hostel type accommodation.

This differentiation is important. Without it, homeless people tend to be seen as an homogeneous group whose situation can be addressed by simple solutions. However, the needs of homeless people are as diverse as the causes of homelessness. Stemming from family breakdown, and loss of original community support, other causes of homelessness include poverty, housing difficulties, unemployment, gambling, health issues such as mental health problems and substance abuse, social dislocation and domestic violence. Typically, these problems do not operate in a discrete fashion but reinforce and compound each other.