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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How karma played a role in the history of the Kogarah Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Asian belief of Karma – a spiritual notion where intent and actions influence the future – played an interesting role in the story of a pub in Sydney’s south. The Kogarah Hotel, at the southern corner… Read More ›
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Darlington’s Golden Grove Hotel was swallowed-up by an expanding Sydney University
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, Carrington
SADLY the beer no longer flows at the Glasgow Arms, at the corner of Young and Cowper Streets, in the Newcastle suburb of Carrington. The Glasgow Arms was built in 1939, replacing an older pub on the opposite corner that… Read More ›
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The birth of the 10-ounce middy and pot glass in NSW and Qld
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 ›
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Paddington pub punching above its weight
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 ›
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Hundreds of beer glasses stolen in one day at the Dee Why Hotel on Sydney’s northern beaches
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 ›
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Golfers tee-off with milk and rum before making a strategic beer break
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 ›
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Wagga Wagga pub cocky sinks a middy a day
Curley Elphick, barman at a Wagga Wagga hotel (NSW), photographed with his pet cockatoo, which drinks a middy of beer a day. Picture: The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) Friday 20 October 1950. Subscribe to the latest Time Gents’ stories OR TIP… Read More ›
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Britons beer at Woolloomooloo’s Merryfield Hotel
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 ›
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Malay barman, Tan’s special cocktails made drinkers ‘blink and ask for more’
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 ›