Rum smugglers are said to have used a secret tunnel in Guildford. An article in The Western Mail (17 Nov 1949) reads:
“The smugglers used to paddle up the nearby river at night, disembarking at a spot; where the well was linked to the river. They would then take their illicit goods up the tunnel”
Many researchers, archaeologists and residents have looked for the tunnel over the years, but its location has not been found.
In September 2020, Trace Archaeology Pty Ltd and the City of Swan undertook a historical archaeological investigation for the Rose and Crown tunnel. It is rumoured to run from a bricked-up entrance in the cellar of the Rose and Crown Hotel to the Swan River. The tunnel is well known locally, and some residents say they played in it as children, but its location is unknown.
There are no primary historical documents showing the tunnel's location or confirming that it exists. Aware of the legend, the City of Swan engaged Trace Archaeology to carry out a ground penetrating radar (GPR) assessment and excavation to determine whether the tunnel was present within the footprint of its proposed drainage infrastructure project, so the project would not damage it.
The GPR assessment next to the Rose and Crown Hotel did not indicate any subsurface structure. To confirm this, the team opened a 20 m by 1 m excavation in the road outside the hotel, across the line of the proposed works, to cover any route the tunnel might take from the sealed cellar entrance to the Swan River. The archaeologists uncovered what is believed to be the original road surface and, beneath it, two deteriorated jarrah boards with hand-wrought iron nails dating between 1788 and the 1850s. No tunnel was found.
The investigation found no tunnel within the area of the proposed works. The existence and location of the Rose and Crown tunnel remain a mystery.
