_{By MICK ROBERTS ©}

THE history of Wollongong’s last main street pub, Dicey Riley’s can be traced-back to when James Cosgrove was granted a publican’s license for the site almost 165 year ago.

Like all good pub yarns, the colourful story of Dicey Riley’s when told is often a little way off the mark, and has been either misrepresented or enhanced over its long history. This is the true story of Wollongong’s oldest pub building. A short history of Crown Street’s – Wollongong’s main drag – last pub. An Irish pub.

James Cosgrove was given approval for a publican’s license for the property where Dicey Riley’s trades in 1860. And guess what? It was an Irish pub!

In a much-valued reminiscence, published in the Illawarra Mercury newspaper in 1894, Alexander Stewart, who was born in 1809, and who had arrived in Wollongong in 1828, revealed the early history of the property.

Stewart said the site “near the railway bridge” was where a public house was built “by old William Murphy”. In his reminiscences he says he couldn’t recall the pub’s name. My research has found that the pub was given the ‘sign’ The Harp & Shamrock! How good is that!

The Illawarra Mercury reported on March 6 1860 that James Cosgrove was given a “new” publican’s license for William Murphy’s Crown Street general store.

However, digging further into its history, I found that before it became a pub, Murphy’s general store had a license to sell low-alcoholic beverages.

Continuing Dicey Riley’s uncanny historical link with the Emerald Isle, I discovered that the low-alcohol liquor license was first gained by a bloke with the good old-fashioned Irish name of William ‘Billy’ Murphy, in April 1857.

Murphy gained a confectioner’s license to sell beverages from his general store, which was partially located on the site of today’s Dicey Riley’s.

The license permitted the sale of spruce beer and ginger beer only. It was introduced by the NSW Government in 1851 as an addition to the existing publican and spirit merchant licenses.

The primary purpose of this restricted license was to allow confectioners and pastry cooks to sell specific, low-alcohol beverages without requiring a full and more expensive publican’s license. 

Holders of the general publican’s license had to apply for or renew their licenses through the courts, a process that was tightly regulated, with magistrates often making decisions based on social views of the applicant and local conditions.

The confectioner’s license offered a separate, limited avenue for specific business types to serve these particular drinks to customers.

Another reminiscence by ‘Shamrock’, published in the Illawarra Mercury on March 5, 1902, told how Murphy supplied the local public houses with his ginger beer.

Headed ‘Old Time Wollongong Doings’, it explained the story of how Murphy was enjoying himself one evening at an Irish dance in a building to the south of his general store when tragedy struck. While dancing, Murphy’s house was “blown-up to smithereens”.

An old man he left in charge of his store was “poking about looking for something under the counter” with a pipe in his mouth, when a spark dropped onto a keg of gun powder. A massive explosion killed the old man and destroyed much of Murphy’s store.

The story doesn’t reveal what year Murphy’s store was blown to “smithereens”. However it reveals that after the tragedy, the shop was rebuilt and continued to trade.

Murphy retired from business in 1859, and leased the general store to James Cosgrove. The general store officially became an Irish pub when Cosgrove successfully applied for a publican’s license, under the sign of the Harp and Shamrock, on March 6, 1860.

Unfortunately, the pub had a short existence, and it closed in 1862. It likely closed due to new licensing laws, placing tougher restrictions on the architectural requirements of licensed premises. The Harp and Shamrock was probably no more than a small inn that fell well-short of the new requirements of the 1862 Liquor Act.

After the closure of the Harp and Shamrock, the building likely continued trading as a general store, until it once again became a pub in 1875.

Andrew Devlin was successful in applying to have the license of the Queen’s Hotel at Market Square removed to premises in “Upper Crown Street”, the site of the present day Dicey Riley’s on October 4 1875. The pub at Market Square was one of Wollongong’s oldest pubs.

Continuing the tradition of the old pub, Devlin named his new pub in “Upper Crown Street”, the Queen’s Hotel.

The railway from Sydney was on its way, and the government surveyors were in the region eyeing-off potential sites for Wollongong’s new railway station.

The decision to establish the Wollongong Railway Station in its current position was still a decade away. Was Devlin’s decision to build a pub so close to what would be the Illawarra’s busiest public transport hub, just speculation, or did he have inside knowledge? We’ll probably never know for sure.

Devlin’s resolve in 1875 to remove the Queen’s Hotel license from Wollongong’s Market Square, near the harbour, to upper Crown Street, where the new government railway would be built in 1887, would set the foundations for what is today’s Dicey Rileys pub.

Devlin fell on hard times in the late 1870s, and was forced to sell his mortgaged property. His license for the Queen’s Hotel was cancelled on June 16 1879 after the licensing inspector found he was not living on the premises and the pub was badly run. Although an attempt was made later in the year to have the hotel re-licensed, it failed.

The hotel was operated by Andrew Brodie as a boarding house for a number of years before Devlin sold the property to auctioneer and business entrepreneur, William Osborne.

Again, Dicey Riley’s history returns to its Irish roots. Osborne was a successful Irish born businessman. He had arrived from Armagh, North Ireland to Wollongong at the age of 15 with his father, Dr. John Osborne, in 1836. His father had received as a grant a square mile block, later known as ‘Garden Hill,’ and on it William would spend his entire life.

William’s father established a wine and spirit store, and later hosted several pubs in Wollongong, so it’s little wonder his son, William would follow suit.

In his early 30s, William, during the 1850s, was operating his own wine and spirit store in Wollongong, adjoining the Commercial Hotel in Crown Street. The store would have been on the site of the former David Jones department store in the Wollongong Mall.

William married Hannah Gray in Kiama in 1856, and the couple would have one child together – a boy by the name of Richard.

William received his first hotelier’s license in 1857, taking over the Freemasons Hotel in Wollongong. The Freemasons Hotel had opened in 1856 by William’s nephew, George Osborne at Market Square.

With the death of his father in 1859, William Osborne became the executor of his estate, and likely inherited enough money to further his business interests. Osborne built a successful auctioneering business, was an alderman on the Wollongong Borough Council, as well as a steward for the Illawarra Jockey Club, and a magistrate. He was a clever businessman, and knew that the railway had been surveyed directly to the west of the old Queen’s Hotel. Also, he knew Wollongong’s new railway station would be virtually in the backyard of the property.

The old Queen’s Hotel operated as a boarding house for a few years before Osborne redeveloped the former pub into a cordial factory in 1881. The Illawarra Mercury reported on January 17, 1882:

Railway Cordial Manufactory — Mr. William Osborne, of this manufactory, has left at our office samples of all the cordials and aerated waters turned out by him. On trying them, we find each article undoubtedly of superior quality. We understand Mr. Osborne makes a speciality of the manufacture of Orange Bitters, which cordial is a tonic as well as a very fine drink. The manufacturer pledges his word that nothing but the purest essences are used in his brewery, no material of a deleterious nature being admitted into the establishment. Since entering upon his new premises in Upper Crown-street, Mr. Osborne has added improved machinery to his plant, and with this he is enabled to execute orders not only on the most modern principle but with dispatch.

To make way for Osborne’s new hotel, the cordial factory was relocated further east along Crown Street about 1883, and renamed the Illawarra Cordial factory.

William meantime, began an ambitious project to transform the old Queen’s Hotel into a modern hotel in time for the arrival of the railway from Sydney. The Illawarra Mercury reported on November 18, 1884:

Mr William Osborne is about to erect a large building containing 20 rooms, on the site of the old cordial factory in Upper Crown-street, near the proposed railway station. The premises are to be let as a hotel…

In Alexander Stewart’s 1894 reminiscences of Illawarra he states that Andrew Devlin’s old Queen’s Hotel was “improved and re-built by Billy Osborne.” This indicates that Osborne’s proposed building, later given the sign, the Terminus Hotel, was a rejuvenated version of the old Queen’s Hotel, which had opened in 1875.  

Work got underway on the transformation of the old Queen’s Hotel into the Wollongong Terminus Hotel in December 1884. The long, drawn-out process of William Osborne gaining a license for his new two storey brick hotel began in January 1885. At the Wollongong Licensing Court on January 16 1885, Osborne told the magistrates that contracts had been let for a two-storey brick building, with a galvanized iron roof, containing 30 rooms, costing over £1,000.

There were several opponents at the hearing including a representative of a local temperance group, and James Wilmot, who said the old Queen’s Hotel, which had operated on the site during the 1870s was disorderly and that additional police supervision would be required were the new license granted. Senior-sergeant Grieve, the Wollongong Licensing Inspector, said while the hotel was not presently required, he believed it would be when the railway opened.

The Bench, after some consideration, suggested that it would be advisable for Osborne to withdraw the application “to a more opportune time, and remarked that, so far, he had not satisfied them that the reasonable requirements of the locality warranted the granting of the license”.

Tenders were called for bricklayers to make additions and extend the old Queen’s Hotel by builder and William’s nephew, George Osborne in May 1885.

The license application was postponed again over a discrepancy in the submitted plans when Osborne fronted the courts in July. A conditional license was eventually approved for the partially completed hotel on August 14, 1885, and by October the new Terminus Hotel was up and running. Interestingly, Osborne’s choice for a name for his new hotel probably wasn’t the most appropriate. Wollongong was the rail terminus for less than five months before the line was extended and opened to Kiama.

The first passenger train services in the Illawarra commenced on June 21, 1887, after the line was completed from Clifton to Wollongong. Less than five months after the opening of Wollongong Railway Station, the line was extended to North Kiama (Bombo) on November 9, 1887.

The line was connected from Clifton to Waterfall, via Helensburgh, Otford, Stanwell Park, and Coalcliff, the following year, between July and October 1888, allowing direct train travel to Sydney.

William Osborne retired from the Terminus Hotel at the age of 64 and the license was transferred to James Marceau on May 3, 1886. A long line of licensees continued to host the Terminus Hotel over the following decades.

Osborne died at the age of 78 in 1900. The South Coast Times reported on Saturday, June 9, 1900:

Late on Monday night Mr. William Osborne, of “Gladstone,” Wollongong, passed away. He died literally a natural death, of old age. It was, the doctor in attendance said, a painless ending. Mr. Osborne was a pioneer settler, having come to the district with his father, Dr. John Osborne, R.N., in 1836, a lad of 15. His father had received as a grant a square mile block, later known as ‘Garden -Hill,’ and on it William spent his life. He saw a town grow, and the forest and the aboriginals vanish, and must have retained many interesting recollections of the pioneer period. He was a man of somewhat reserved nature, and did not disclose himself much except to his friends. In the beginning of the municipality Mr. Osborne was an alderman of the borough, and he was the oldest magistrate in the district. For the past 30 years, however he led a retired life. He was a good supporter of the Hospital, in which he took much interest, and other charities were not forgotten by him; he was also a devoted adherent of the Church of England. He lived placidly, kindly to everyone, seeking no distinction, and died, placidly. His age was 78. Mr. Osborne married the daughter of Lieutenant Mackie Gray, of the ‘Retreat,’ Omega, who was the first Lands Commissioner, under the old regime, in these parts. They had but one of a family, Frederick, now an inspector of the Commercial Bank. The funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon. The remains were interred in the C.E. Cemetery. The Rev. G. D’Arcy Irvine officiated.

The Terminus Hotel was purchased by Edward Goodridge from the widow of William Osborne in 1904. Hannah Osborne was living within eye-sight of the Terminus Hotel at the family’s home, ‘Gladstone’ (at the corner of Gladstone Avenue and Crown Street) when she ended her family’s association with Wollongong’s hotel industry in September 1904. She died at ‘Gladstone’ at the age of 78 in 1910.

The new owner of the Terminus, Edward Goodridge, had plenty of business experience, especially when it came to pubs. He had been the host of the Royal Hotel at Moss Vale, on the NSW Southern Highlands, for over a decade before coming to Wollongong in 1904.

Goodridge arrived in Moss Vale from England as a 21-year- old man in 1874, and for some time followed up his occupation as builder and contractor. He married in 1887, before he and his new wife, Kate, became hosts of Moss Vale’s Royal Hotel in 1888. The Goodridges remained hosts at Moss Vale’s Royal until 1903.

During his time at Moss Vale, Goodridge was for many years an alderman on the municipal council and occupied the mayoral chair. He was also associated with and gave his support to various movements for the welfare of the town and district. He was a prominent member of sporting groups, and was responsible for laying-down Moss Vale’s first bowling green. While publican, interestingly, Goodridge is registered with the NS Government as patenting an “improved urinal” in 1899. Maybe it was necessitated from his role catering for heavy drinking men in his pub.

Retiring from business at the age of 51 in 1903, he and his wife, Kate visited England before returning to Australia and buying the Terminus hotel at Wollongong from the Hannah Osborne in 1904.

Goodridge was given approval at the Wollongong Licensing Court to alter the name of the Terminus Hotel to ‘Tattersall’s’ on October 13, 1904. He and his wife, Kate – like they had done in Moss Vale – became prominent citizen in Wollongong.

Goodridge was elected to Wollongong Council as an alderman in 1906 and he remained as host of the Tattersalls Hotel until 1909 when he sold the head lease of the pub to Sydney brewery giant, Tooth & Company. Goodridge’s health was failing and, with his wife, retired to Moss Vale where he died at the age of 59 in December 1911.

Experienced publican, Sam McCauley became host of the Tattersalls Hotel in 1933. McCauley belonged to an Illawarra pioneering family, his grandfather being one of the first settlers on Thirroul. Born in Woonona in 1888, Sam McCauley was coal miner, and staunch unionist, marrying Annie Harrigan in 1910. He first entered the hotel trade in 1924 when, at 36, he took the reins of the Corrimal Family Hotel, a pub which continues to trade today just north of Wollongong.

McCauley hosted the Corrimal pub for 12 years before having a short stint as licensee at the Figtree Hotel, just south of Wollongong in 1930. From the Figtree pub, McCauley took the license of the Tattersall’s Hotel in October 1933.

McCauley was a high profile publican in the Illawarra region, being the president of the South Coast branch of the United Liquor Victuallers Association, the forerunner of what is today the Hotels Association. He was president of the association for 18 years before his resignation from the executive role in 1948.

McCauley was licensee in 1934 when Tooth and Company invested £5,000 into the redevelopment of the old Tattersalls Hotel.

The hotel, which was almost rebuilt from when it traded as the Queens Hotel, was about to be redeveloped once again. Most of the existing structure was demolished and rebuilt in 1934, with the end result providing a modern hotel for Wollongong. The new pub opened on Thursday May 3, 1934, just in time for the busy Christmas trade. The South Coast Times reported on Friday 14 December 1934:

Mr. Sam McCauley, the genial licensee of Tattersall’s Hotel, Wollongong, is delighted in the knowledge that the work of erecting the new and up-to-date hotel is completed, and that he is now in a position to cater for ‘the best in the land.’ The new premises were opened yesterday. The contractor has done his work faithfully and well, and on the site where the old premises stood is a picturesque structure which does credit to the town and the surrounding architecture.

New and up-to-date furniture has been installed throughout and patrons will find the new home a home away from home. There are 17 lofty and airy bedrooms, artistically furnished; roomy saloon lounge bar and a large and commodious public bar. Hot and cold water throughout and every conceivable modern convenience. A beautiful tiled front first attracts the eye, but an inspection inside will show tiled bars, tiled bathrooms and tiled lavatories, all connected with the town’s sewerage system.

Special attention has been given to the provision of ample garage accommodation. Even to drawing the beer, the modern hygienic method has been introduced. Electric fans are dotted here and there to temper the atmosphere, and there is not a modern convenience missing in any part of this up-to-date hotel. Sam McCauley and the owners are to be congratulated on their enterprise in making such first-class accommodation available to the public as a whole.

The Tattersalls Hotel remained in the ownership of Kate Goodridge until her death at the age of 72 in San Francisco, USA, in 1936. After her death, Tooth and Company, who leased of the property, purchased the Tattersalls Hotel outright in 1937.

After Tooth & Company bought the hotel’s freehold, the brewery invested £14,500 in alteration and additions to the building in September 1938.

The hotel was extended on vacant land towards the railway, with a lobby, main office entrance lounge, dining room, severy kitchen and staff rooms with showers and toilets.

The public bar was enlarged from 73 feet to 125 feet, and the saloon bar from 27 feet to 30 feet, including tiling. Another 11 bedrooms were added upstairs, making 27 bedrooms in all available for accommodation.

Sam MCauley would host the Tattersalls Hotel for 21 years. He died at the age of 66 at Darlinghurst Private Hospital while licensee in August 1954.  The South Coast Times reported on Monday, August 30, 1954:

Mr. Samuel Armstrong McCauley, licensee of the Tattersall’s Hotel, Wollongong, who died in a Darlinghurst hospital last Thursday morning, has been in ill-health for some months. The late Mr. McCauley, who was in his 66th year, was a life-long resident of the south coast and his death came as a great shock to his wide circle of friends. He was licensee of the Corrimal hotel for many years prior to coming to Wollongong. The late Mr. McCauley is survived by a widow, Mrs. Annie Matilda McCauley, and a family of three…

The Tattersalls Hotel became famous (or should I say, infamous) as an ‘early opener’ during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s.

While most pubs in NSW had their closing hours extended from 6pm to 10pm or later following the 1954 referendum, “early opener” pubs maintained a different schedule. Their hours were generally: 

• Opening time: As early as 6am or 6.30am.
• Closing time: Typically around mid-afternoon, such as 3pm or 6.30pm. 

This schedule was designed to align with the end of the 9pm to 6am night shift, allowing workers in coal mines, steelworks, on the railways, and those on the docks, to have a drink after their shifts ended. 

Tattersalls, located so close to the Wollongong Railway Station, was perfectly situated for Port Kembla steelworkers to enjoy a drink.

The relaxing of hotel trading hours in the 1980s, especially allowing Sunday trading, meant early opening hours were not as important to hotel trade. By the late 1980s, the ‘Tatts’ had returned to standard trading hours, and was looking tired, and losing trade.

A rising trend in Irish themed pubs prompted a re-branding of the old Tattersalls Hotel. Dicey Rileys, an Irish themed pub, opened in 1994 after a much-needed renovation and fitout.

Irish pubs are often named ‘Dicey Riley’s’, after an infamous, somewhat notorious, character from a traditional Dublin street ballad. The woman was known for her heavy drinking and risky lifestyle, making it a popular and ironically fitting name for Irish-style pubs worldwide. The name evokes a colourful, real-life (or legendary) figure connected to Dublin’s drinking scene, adding authenticity and local flavour, even if the actual ‘Dicey Riley’ was a figure of folklore. 

George Poulos and his uncle Nick Peters took over the operation and ownership of Dicey Riley’s around 2014. George has run the popular Irish pub, aiming to preserve its unique character while revitalising the area, ever since. 

Dicey Riley’s Hotel has become known for its traditional atmosphere, hearty food, live music, and regular events like trivia, karaoke, meat raffles, and poker, offering a classic pub experience with a modern twist in the Wollongong CBD. 

_{© Copyright Mick Roberts 2026}

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Categories: Australian Hotels, Illawarra Hotels, NSW hotels, Publicans

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