Built by John Henning and first licensed in 1877, the Shearlegs Hotel was fortunate to survive its first year after a mammoth hailstorm struck the building punching fist-sized holes through the bark roof and killing birds in huge number. When the ice melted, it raised the level of the nearby ground tank by 15 inches.
A site near the hotel was chosen for the sinking of a government tank, which was done so by Henning and completed in 1884.
Henning sold his hotel and surrounding farm in 1886 to the Fransisco brothers for the handsome sum of £2,300. Hennings had been reported to have grown one of the best wheat crops ever seen in the western districts and the Fransisco’s are said to have supplied great quantities of chaff and hay to the Cobar storekeepers.
The last recorded licensee of the Shearlegs Hotel was Henry Dooley in 1894.
