Author Archives
A journalist, writer and historian, Mick Roberts specialises in Australian cultural history, particularly associated with the Australian pubs. Mick has had an interest in revealing the colourful story of Australian hotels or pubs and associated industries for over 30 years. Besides writing a number of history books, Mick has managed several community newspapers. Now semi-retired, he has edited the Wollongong Northern News, The Bulli Times, The Northern Times, The Northern Leader and The Local - all located in the Wollongong region. As a journalist he has worked for Rural Press, Cumberland (News Limited), City Hub Sydney (City News), and Torch Publications (based in Canterbury Bankstown, Sydney).
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Mine’s a ‘Lady Blamey’: Beer served-up in cut-off beer bottles
By MICK ROBERTS © WALKING the mine-field of the various names of beer glass-sizes in Australia can be tricky – especially when you’re from inter-state. There’s the butcher, the handle, a pot, middy, and, of course, the schooner. While many… Read More ›
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Legendary outback publican: Hermann Schmidt
By MICK ROBERTS © THERE are some publicans who truly earn a legendary status. As a bush publican, shearer, colt-breaker, mail coach driver, boundary rider, noted athlete, scalper, and successful racehorse owner and trainer, Hermann Schmidt, was one of those… Read More ›
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Identity of man found dead at North Sydney hotel remains mystery almost 60 years later
THE identity of a man found dead at North Sydney’s long-gone Rest Hotel has remained a mystery for almost 60 years. The man, who was staying at the hotel under the name of ‘K. Cox’, was found dead in the… Read More ›
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Surry Hills’ notorious bloodhouse, the Sunbeam Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © ALTHOUGH today you would be hard pressed to believe it, prior to gentrification, Surry Hills was home to some of Sydney’s toughest pubs. The pubs of the inner-Sydney suburb were haunts of the city’s shadiest characters… Read More ›
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The pub in the Dandenong Ranges with an unusual name: The Dolce Domum Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © IN the heart of Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges in the charming town of Olinda is the Mount Dandenong Hotel, an hour’s drive from Melbourne and a favourite weekend dining destination for city dwellers. The Mount Dandenong Hotel… Read More ›
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Old Tom Thorne and the Golden Spur Hotel, Baree
OLD Tom Thorne, who built the Golden Spur Hotel in the Central Queensland gold mining town of Baree, needed to be “a hard headed, two fisted man” to hold his own with the clientele. Even though Tom, who hosted the… Read More ›
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Hugh Hanna and Hill End’s Commercial Hotel, 1872 – 1904
By MICK ROBERTS © AS gold slowly vanished from Hill End, in the central tablelands region of NSW, so did many of its pubs. Of the dozens of pubs that traded in Hill End during the early 1870s, the Commercial… Read More ›
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And then there were two… The last of Hill End’s 25 pubs
By MICK ROBERT © WHEN the doors of Weir’s Hotel closed for the last time in 1937, it left just one pub – the Royal – trading in the former gold mining town of Hill End. Hill End, which once… Read More ›
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Hobart’s Liverpool Street was ‘infested with prostitutes’ and pubs that were the ‘worst dens of infamy’
By MICK ROBERTS © COLONIAL Hobart was home to some of the most notorious pubs, not only in Tasmania, but all of Australia. With odd names, like the Pickwick Tavern, Labor in Vain, Good Woman, Lame Horse, Surely We Have… Read More ›