Margaret Elizabeth (Margot) Kelly

Margaret Elizabeth "Margot" Kelly born Margaret Elizabeth Emerson (15 March 1894 – 25 September 1983) was an Australian hotel manager and restaurateur. For over twenty years she had the Hibiscus Room in Surfers Paradise in Queensland.

Life Kelly was born in 1894 in the Brisbane suburb of Enoggera. She became an apprentice dressmaker and opened her own clothing boutique. She turned her skills to looking after people after she married the manager of the Charleville Hotel. She and Edward Kelly lived at the hotel in Charleville, Queensland.

They began successfully managing the National Hotel in Brisbane in about 1934. She was the license holder. and Lt Philip Mountbatten, General Douglas Macarthur and she moved to Surfer's Paradise where she had a restaurant built which she named after her favourite flower. She was known for wearing a hibiscus and now she had her own "Hibiscus Room". The restaurant targeted the most exclusive of clientele and she demanded the highest standards from them and the entertainers. She would appear each evening in an evening dress and she also expected her clients to dress for dinner. She was known for occasionally singing and dancing at the piano accompanying the visiting musicians.

She retired from the restaurant in 1971. She was in her eighties and she was disappointed by the standards of her clientele. The requirement for formal dress had been lowered to "smart informal" and Kelly reported that she was very sad when the Prime Minister visited the restaurant wearing a cravat.