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Author Archives

A newspaper journalist, writer and local historian, Mick Roberts specialises in Australian cultural history, particularly associated with the Australian hotel and liquor industry. Mick has had an interest in revealing the colourful story of pubs, inns and associated industries in the Sydney and Illawarra regions of NSW for over 30 years. He is currently working on a comprehensive history of the hotel and liquor industry in the Illawarra region of NSW. Besides authoring a number of history books, Mick has owned and operated several community newspapers. He was one time editor of 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 Limted), Sydney based, City News, and is now with Torch Publications.

  • The Golden Grove Hotel, Darlington

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    THE Golden Grove Hotel sat on the corner of Alma and Raglan Streets at Darlington, Sydney. The pub was established in 1880 and traded for 74 years before its license was transfered to Maroubra on October 22 1954 to make… Read More ›

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  • The many faces of the Glasgow Arms

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    Sadly the beer at the Glasgow Arms, at the corner of Young and Cowper Streets, Carrington (NSW) flows no more. The Glasgow Arms was built in 1939, replacing an older pub next door. Although long closed, its striking yellow tiles… Read More ›

  • Birth of the middy glass

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    By MICK ROBERTS © IN Sydney it’s called a middy, while in Melbourne or Brisbane, a 10 ounce glass of beer is dubbed a pot. The 10 ounce glass has been a popular beer vessel in Australian pubs for over a… Read More ›

  • Hotel Canberra, Paddington

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    By MICK ROBERTS © LIKE footballers, it seemed it was once a right of passage for boxers to turn their hand to a pub career after retiring from their sport. One pugilist who swapped his gloves for a publican apron was… Read More ›

  • Dee Why Hotel, Dee Why

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    Last Boxing Day was not a happy one for mine host, Nev Tipping, of the Dee Why Hotel, Sydney. And yet it should have been. He had plenty of beer, a great number of customers, excellent drinking weather, and 2,000… Read More ›

  • Strategic beer break

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    The annual AIF tourney was played at Kooyonga Golf Club, in Adelaide’s west during the 1950s. Players set out fortified by a rum and milk and during the round refreshed themselves from a keg of beer set up in a… Read More ›

  • Cocky takes to drink

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    Curley Elphick, barman at a Wagga Wagga hotel (NSW), photographed with his pet cockatoo, which drinks a middy of beer a day. Photo: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) Friday 20 October 1950.

  • Merryfield Hotel, Woolloomooloo

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    THE MERRYFIELD HOTEL, East Sydney, is one of the few hotels in Sydney serving beer. The hotel serves Briton’s beer, supply of which has not been affected by the present strike. Picture was taken at 10.30am yesterday. – The Daily… Read More ›

  • Prince of Wales Hotel, Sydney

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    CHINESE barman K. W. Tan (right), who used to shake cocktails on Burns, Philp steamers, now pulls beers at the Prince of Wales Hotel, George Street; City [Sydney]. Tan, a refugee from Malaya, was placed at the hotel to release… Read More ›

  • The Duke of Cornwall, Kalgoorlie

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    BUSINESS enterprise and high confidence in the future of this town and district have just endowed Kalgoorlie with a new hotel, which distinctly adorns the upper end of Hannan Street. This new house, the Duke of Cornwall (pictured) has been… Read More ›