The whale bones that have greeted Wonthaggi Hotel patrons for over 100 years

On July 4 1923, eight years after what was then known as Taberner’s Hotel opened, a dead 22.3 metre pygmy blue whale washed up at Wreck Beach in Harmers Haven - about seven kilometres from Wonthaggi.

Two local unemployed men, Jack Keighly and Harold Pleydell, reportedly earned about £450 chopping up and selling parts of the whale.

The lower jaw bones were bought by publican Charlie Daniel Taberner for £25 and placed in front of the hotel where they sit to this day.

Take a look at a video on the history of the bones and the Wonthaggi Hotel below.