By MICK ROBERTS © KNOWN as the ‘Diamond Queen’, publican Rose Rooney was the toast of Sydney’s Bohemian social life for over 20 years. There were few as colourful as Rose, who possessed of personality, and a lively wit,… Read More ›
Observer Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney WHEN I drop into the Observer Hotel at Sydney’s Rocks, I like to drink a schooner of beer using my left hand. The gesture is in memory of a left-handed drag-queen who performed in the… Read More ›
Have you wondered about that old weather beaten bloke standing at the bar in those Carlton and United Brewery posters? You know, the one proclaiming ‘I allus has wan at eleven’? His name was Sam Knott, an Englishman who had… Read More ›
The Miners and Bulli Family Hotel By William Evans* BULLI lies at the centre of a large coal mining area and the miners of that time eked out a bare existence at the coal face some miles underground. Public transport… Read More ›
“Time gents, drink ’em up”, was the barman’s call as six o’clock approached and the taps were turned off for another day. The six o’clock swill was Australian and New Zealand slang for the last-minute rush to buy drinks before the… Read More ›
THE BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT CAMPSIE is to have its only hotel, but many residents oppose the innovation. They allege that it will “bring undesirables to the district, and by the cause of disturbances. The history of Campsie for the… Read More ›
Ounce of Dye Colours a million gallons Hotel keepers unaware chemsist sold drip beer colouring One ounce of methyl violet, costing about 4 shillings, would colour 1,000,000 gallons of beer. Methyl violet is the dye with which hotelkeepers are… Read More ›
THIS 1949 photo shows the packed bar of a Liverpool Street hotel in Sydney during a day when it sold draught and bottled beer from 10am to 5.30pm. The picture shows the congestion in the public bar at 4pm when most… Read More ›
Hospital attractions The question of what becomes of beer confiscated by the police in raids upon sly grog shops was raised at Burwood Court [Sydney] yesterday. Mr. Williams S.M., said that he thought that the police sold the liquor. Sergeant Saunders… Read More ›
“Curley” Elphick, barman at a Wagga hotel, photographed recently with his pet cockatoo which drinks a middy of beer a day. – Avon Argus November 23 1950
ERIC ROONEY, a floorman at Tooheys brewery, rolling one of the new stainless steel 18-gallons beer kegs from the filling syphons yesterday. The new kegs will be used in Sydney hotels tomorrow. A brewery spokesman said yesterday the steel kegs… Read More ›
A consignment of Resch’s beer from Sydney being unloaded in Brisbane during a Queensland brewery strike in 1937. Photo: The Brisbane Telegraph September 27 1937
BEER The N.S.W. Government have decided to establish a beer garden in Government House grounds, on similar lines to those so popular in certain parts of Europe (locality censored), at a cost of about £20,000. PREMIER: “We’ll have to sell… Read More ›
Hotel collects for Largs Bay Orphanage SMALL CHANGE thrown into two artillery shells on a cupboard behind the bar at Commercial Hotel, Port Adelaide, was counted yesterday by Mr. Ron Threadgold and Mrs. J. Cann, the licensee’s wife. It came… Read More ›
