The Royal Hotel, George Street, Sydney 1870s. Mystery sword discovery in hotel basement WHEN the old Royal Hotel in George Street Sydney was demolished and preperation began on a replacement building in 1928, workers found an old sword in a… 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 ›
WAY before the online services of Trivago and Wotif, there were other means to search for hotels in Australia. Most states had a “hotel and boarding house directory”, a small booklet listing the hotels, their features and prices. Here are… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © NOT far from where once a long-forgotten bush pub traded, 450kms east of Perth in the Western Australian outback, sits the lonely grave of Scotsman, Tom Davidson. The goldfields of Western Australia are a strange last… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE terrifying roar of an approaching bushfire is a sound familiar to many a publican at the Kinglake Hotel – a small Victorian pub established in 1908. Located 56 km north-east of Melbourne, the pub is… Read More ›
By JOHN QUINN “STRIKE me,” said Uncle Obadiah Quinn, “what’s this about a Kalgoorlie publican spending £2000 on additions to his premises to discourage excessive drinking?” “Name of Lionel H. Walker,” I said. “Licensee of the Boulder City Hotel.” “First… Read More ›
Palace Hotel, Darlinghurst By MICK ROBERTS © THE Palace Hotel was first licensed in December 1878. A craft beer pub, specialising only in Australian brewed beers, the Palace at the corner of Flinders Street and South Dowling… Read More ›
SANDSTONE is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia, 661km north of Perth. The town was first settled in 1894 as part of a gold rush. By 1907 the population of the town had swelled to over 6,000 and it… Read More ›
WHEN I called into the Rose Hotel on busy Cleveland Street at Darlington for a Sunday beer, there wasn’t a soul in the main bar… Strange I thought, so I ventured further into the pub finding most customers were eating… Read More ›
HERE’S a blast from Redfern’s past… the former City View Hotel, which sits on the corner of Vine Street and Abercrombie Street, just opposite the Eveliegh Hotel. The City View was established by John Walsh in 1877 and traded for… Read More ›
NOW operating as a pizza restuarant, with a licensed bar, the New Britannia was built in 1879 on land purchased by William Hutchinson in 1845. Located on busy Cleveland Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlington, the pub sits on land… Read More ›