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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The Pub Counter Lunch
REVIVAL OF AN OLD CUSTOM
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Down she comes: The Apollo Inn, Melbourne
Wreckers demolishing the Apollo Inn, at the corner of Russell street and Flinders lane — Melbourne’s most ancient hostelry. It was here that [John] Batman, the founder of Melbourne, used to take his glass. – Melbourne Weekly Times, January 29,… Read More ›
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Jones’s Hotel, Glenrowan
Jones’s Hotel, the last refuge of the hunted [Ned Kelly] outlaws, is a public house about a hundred yards from the Glenrowan railway station. It is of the kind common all over the country — wooden walls, shingle roof, a… Read More ›
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The breweries of Edmund Resch
ARGUABLY Australia’s most enduring brew, Resch’s Draught is one of the last of Sydney’s 19th century beers that continues to be available from the bars of pubs in the Harbour City. Along with Toohey’s Draught, Resch’s remains a popular beer… Read More ›
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Freemasons Hotel, Norseman
SCENE OF HECTIC NORSEMAN BEER BATTLE THE HOTEL AT NORSEMAN (WA), where after the conclusion of the ‘Beer Strike’ this week, there was a free fight. Pots were hurled about, beer was seized and eventually the publican had to turn… Read More ›
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The dusted miner
By MICK ROBERTS © CORRIMAL coal miner George Forsyth Bryson liked a beer – almost as much as he liked motorcycles. He was described in an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 1946 as a short, stocky man, with brown… Read More ›
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Exchange Hotel, Pingelly
WHEELBARROW BUG BITES PINGELLY FOR A £10 SIDE WAGER, Bert Wilson, a Pingelly blacksmith (WA), pushed Ben Jackson (sitter) in a barrow from Brookton to Pingelly (12½ miles) in 5 hours, 14 minutes. The wager was that the distance would… Read More ›
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Door of Lidcombe’s Royal Oak Hotel, marked with horse racing bets, removed for evidence by police
POLICE TAKE HOTEL DOOR IT was a little draughty in the bar of the Royal Oak Hotel one Saturday afternoon last century after a police raid. Quite a stir was caused when police arrived with a tool kit at the… Read More ›
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Road Trip: The pubs of Balmain and Rozelle
By MICK ROBERTS © THE pubs we visited on our road trip to Sydney’s inner-west in 2019 started their trading life as working class, blue collar establishments. The four pubs all opened over a century ago, frequented by wharfies, factory… Read More ›
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The story of two pubs with the sign, Marrickville Hotel
Marrickville had the longest bar in NSW…. The Hotel Marrickville in Sydney’s inner-west reportedly had the longest public bar in NSW during the 1940s. This long-gone pub is not to be confused with the current Marrickville Hotel located at 244 Marrickville Road, which… Read More ›