ONLY a licensed club services the thirsts of Burraga these days.
The village, on the NSW central tablelands, lies 47km south-west of Oberon, and about 67km south of Bathurst. When the copper mine was in full swing in 1900, three pubs serviced the thirsts of a population of 10,000 – the Grand, the Burraga and the Royal.
These days, Burraga is a much quieter place. The pubs have disappeared, and a lone general store, and the Burraga Sports and Services Club caters to the needs of the population of about 250.
The last of Burraga’s pubs, the Royal, was destroyed by fire in September 1932 and traded from a temporary bar until March 1933.
There’s an interesting story behind why the publican of the day, William Henderson asked for the cancellation of his license in 1933.
The Mudgee Guardian reported a “remarkable story”, which unfolded at the Bathurst Licensing Court, when Henderson asked for the voluntary surrender of the license of the Royal Hotel at Burraga.
Three customers, who had inherited a small fortune of £1800 between them, had become real good customers, and their liberality was no doubt responsible for things looking up for a time. Of his dozen clients, the publican said, three visited the hotel daily. These were ‘moneyed men’; they had had money left to them; they were generally around the hotel at 9 o’clock in the morning and don’t leave until closing time; they went home to lunch, shortly after which they returned; they were there practically all day and every day. He was not sure how much wealth was left to them, but it was somewhere about £600 each. He did not think they had much of that money left, as they had been spending at a great rate for many months, never being away from the place. Henderson went on to say that the other 20 per cent of his customers he seldom saw. They mostly came to the hotel on Saturday afternoons. Generally speaking, the residents of the town patronised the hotel very little. Really the only town patronage was from the trio who struck it a bit rich.
Henderson got his wish, and Burraga’s last pub closed for business in March 1933.
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Categories: NSW hotels
The ‘Annals of Burraga’, Extended Edition 1986 (?) by Kevin Toole identifies this as Drain’s Royal Hotel. I am aware my family owned the pub, but I haven’t been able to find the dates. My grandfather, Ivor Rupert Drain, enlisted in WWI but by that time was in Sydney.His brother, Edward, is listed on the War Memorial died in WW1 (at Gallipoli, but this isn’t on the memorial). Has your research shown whether the Drain’s had the pub before Morton? If it was built 32 years before the fire, they could have been the original licensees. I gather they moved to Sydney prior to 1918, by which time my grandfather was a brewery worker there. My grandfather also said he and his brothers used to ride over the ranges to Abercrombie Caves to attend dances on the platform that is still there pre WWI.