THE year before Olive Kathleen Cummins married she became the licensee of South Melbourne’s Caledonian Hotel at the age of 25. Olive was granted the license of her first pub, the Caledonian in 1919, and had a short stay after… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Harp Hotel was old Billy Fitzpatrick’s second home. The retired baker had been a ‘regular’ at the pub, in the Illawarra region of NSW, for 64 years when he was photographed enjoying a noggin of… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE O’Hara family just couldn’t shake the legacy of their predecessors. Despite the Hides not building or hosting the landmark hotel at the corner of Lake and Shields Streets, in the northern Queensland city of Cairns,… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © COMPARED by one 19th century scribe to Shakespeare’s Caliban from the Tempest, the legendary Donkey Jack was Wollongong’s best known drunk. Of all the drunken characters who frequented the Illawarra – and there were many –… Read More ›
A FEW hours after he broke into the cellar of the Grose Farm Hotel, Joseph Byrnes was found asleep in the bar after polishing of a bottle of whiskey and two bottles of wine. Byrnes, who was almost totally deaf… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © One of the more notorious incidents in almost a century of trading at the Regents Park Hotel in Sydney’s west was when the publican booted out a Salvation Army officer, who was collecting donations and selling… Read More ›
A NATIONAL initiative to reward double-jabbed Australians with a free glass of beer when pub doors safely reopen has been announced by Furphy and parent-company Lion. As a way to boost jabs in arms throughout the country and in line… Read More ›
RETIRED journalist and one time publican, Philip Derriman, now living with his wife in Oberon, on the NSW Southern Highlands, has put together this interesting story for Time Gents about his father, Bernard Derriman. My father, Bernard Derriman (1902-77), widely… Read More ›
FORMER publican, Jim Manning had been missing for over 24 hours when his son discovered his blood saturated body in bushland in Sydney’s west in 1927. Jim’s death at the age of 73 was a tragic end to the life… Read More ›
Liquor & Gaming compliance officers will be out across NSW to check if venues are COVID safe and that those participating in the NSW Government’s Dine & Discover program are complying with its rules. Liquor & Gaming Director of Compliance… Read More ›
WE’RE an inventive lot, us Australians. When obstacles are put in our way – especially when it comes to enjoying a beer with mates – we can become quite imaginative. In fact, in Bondi cab-driver, Cec Hayne’s case, resourcefully clever…. Read More ›
The Royal Hotel in Bungendore opened for business in 1883. However, it wasn’t the first Royal in the township. About 20 minutes drive from Queanbeyan in NSW, the ‘new Royal’ took over from a 16 room coaching inn that has… Read More ›
John McManaway was a famed Western Australian publican, who hosted three pubs to the heavy drinking miners of the Murchison goldfields. Known far and wide as ‘Bold McManaway’, or simply ‘Mac’, the Irishman was said to have feared nothing, was always up-for-a-fight –… Read More ›