_{By MICK ROBERTS ©}

WHEN Jack Ahern took the reins of his first pub at Hamilton, in what is today an affluent riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, he quickly put his stamp on the popular drinking hole.

The Hamilton Hotel had a long history when Ahern took the license in 1931. The pub was established in 1865 by prominent Brisbane solicitor Gustav Hamilton, who owned much of the land in the then Eagle Farm district. He built the hotel on the city side of the present pub, at the corner of Kingsford Smith Drive and Racecourse Road, which became a meeting place for horse racing identities. Before long the surrounding locality became known as Hamilton.

When Gustav Hamilton sold the hotel and retired to Toowoomba, a long line of publicans with an interest in horse racing have hosted the hotel.

One of those publicans was John Richard Ahern, who hosted the pub through the war years. He held the license of the Hamilton Hotel from 1931 until the mid 1950s.

Born in Queensland in 1892, Ahern worked for many years in the office of brewery giant, Castlemaine-Perkins before taking the license of the Hamilton Hotel.

Jack had a flare for promotion and his pub was often mentioned in quirky and amusing newspaper columns during his time at the pub. One of the most famous is the tale of Hilda the beer drinking chook.

The Brisbane Truth on October 14 1945 told the tale of Hilda, and how the pub cat often put the hen to bed after it got a little ‘clucky’ on grog!

Hilda the Hen’s penchant for beer was discovered after a US sailor poured beer on ground in the pub’s backyard and Hilda eagerly lapped it up.

After that the chook seldom missed a session, and a pot of beer was regularly put aside for the thirsty fowl. When she completed her “guzzle”, Ginger the cat pushed her into her nest, where she slept off the booze.

Jack, who continued the tradition of encouraging the pub as a meeting place for racing identities, was himself a regular to the track and held interests in race horses. With his wife, Alice, who he married in 1923, they owned the Hamilton Hotel for over 23 years.

During the mid 1940s, Jack placed manager, Dan Keogh in control of his pub.

A double tragedy occurred in January 1946 when the pub’s yardman or roustabout, James Horan Wilson dropped dead while at work. Manager Dan Keogh found his body, and reportedly also dropped dead the following day from a  heart attack caused by the shock.

Besides horse racing, Jack also had a strong interest in collecting, and the pub became famous in the mid 1940s for a display of over 100 cups and saucers, displayed in the saloon bar. They were mementoes of visits by ships of all nations and included a coffee cup used by the Duke of Gloucester on HMS Sussex. But, probably one of the more bizarre items the successful publican collected was a human skull. The Central Queensland Herald reported on June 23 1949:

Skull Mystery Solved

BRISBANE, June 20. – Detectives rushed to Donnybrook, 42 miles north of Brisbane, today following a report that a human skull with a bullet hole in the forehead had been found on an oyster bed off Little Goat Island Bribie Passage. The skull was found by a young professional fisherman W. Benson, of Donnybrook It was lying full of mud near two mangrove trees on the edge of the Island. Detectives brought the skull to Brisbane, where CIB experts established that it was that of a man aged about 35. However, the mystery solved when Mr J. Ahern proprietor of the Hamilton Hotel, identified the skull as a war souvenir which he had dumped near the Island. Police said that Mr Ahern did not know the history of the skull except that it had been brought from the Islands during the war.

Jack Ahern was an active member of the Licensed Victuallers Association, the forerunner of today’s Australian Hotels Association. He was a committee member of the Queensland Licensed Victuallers Association from the early 1930s, eventually becoming vice president, and then president of the advocacy organisation in the 1940s. He rose to become the president of the Australian United Licensed Victuallers Association in the early 1950s.

After Jack’s death at the age of 67 in November 1959, the pub was demolished and replaced with the current building in 1964.

_{© Copyright Mick Roberts 2024}

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Categories: Brisbane hotels, Queensland hotels

Tags: Hamilton Hotel Brisbane, Jack Ahern