Author Archives
A journalist, writer and historian, Mick Roberts specialises in Australian cultural history, particularly associated with Australian pubs. Mick has had an interest in revealing the colourful story of Australian hotels or pubs and associated industries for over 35 years. Besides writing a number of history books, Mick has managed several community newspapers. Editorially, he has managed 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 reported for Rural Press, Cumberland (News Limited), City Hub Sydney (City News), and Torch Publications (based in Canterbury Bankstown, Sydney).
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Burraga’s last pub surrendered its license in 1933
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… Read More ›
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Fire destroyed Emu Park’s Grand Hotel
THE site of the Pine Beach Hotel at Emu Park, near Rockhampton, Queensland, has been home to a hotel since 1871. The first pub in Emu Park, the Brighton opened on the site in 1871, and in 1879 it was… Read More ›
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Emu Park’s Imperial Hotel destroyed by fire
AT its peak in popularity in the early 1900s, Emu Park, a Queensland coastal town on the Capricorn Coast about 20 kilometres south of Yeppoon, had four hotels to service its tourist industry. The Pine Beach Hotel, once home to… Read More ›
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Road Trip: Far North Queensland, Part 3
The pubs of Port Douglas and Mossman By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN the mill is open, pub business booms in the sugar cane town of Mossman. We spoke with two publicans and a few local drinkers as part of our… Read More ›
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Road Trip: Far North Queensland, Part 2
The disappearing pubs of Gordonvale By MICK ROBERTS © SITTING at the end of the bar on his usual stool, ‘Pop’ gave me a cautious glance when I walked into the Great Northern Hotel at Gordonvale and started up a… Read More ›
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Road Trip: Far North Queensland, Part 1
By MICK ROBERTS © The pubs of Cairns City, Stratford, Redlynch and Edmonton CAIRNS’ pub culture has changed considerably since the mid 1980s when I first ventured to the far northern Queensland city as a young man. The crowded bars,… Read More ›
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Perth’s SP bookies were not only blokes
WHERE pubs were found, drinkers could also find a resident SP bookie. At one SP betting stand in the Perth metropolitan area, not 50 yards from a main arterial road, the principal in this 1953 newspaper picture was a woman…. Read More ›
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Great Western Hotel, Cobar
THROUGH TWO FLOORS HOTEL PARAPET COLLAPSES COBAR. Monday. During a storm part of the parapet of the Great Western Hotel crashed through the roof, and smashing the floors of two bedrooms, came to rest in the bar parlor underneath…. Read More ›
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Beer drums on trial
THE Cascade Brewery Co. Ltd. has imported three trial steel drums, now being used on the Mainland for bulk beer. The brewery is investigating how they stand up to cartage, and whether they affect the flavour of beer. The steel… Read More ›
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Albury Hotel, Paddington
DRANK AT LEISURE COMFORT: To celebrate the New Year these men set up their own beer garden outside the old Albury Hotel, which is being demolished under the Oxford Street widening scheme. The hotel is on a boundary. Half the… Read More ›