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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Sydney’s Sussex Hotel and the failed attempt to dethrone Melbourne’s original ‘Chloe’
By MICK ROBERTS © THE rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney is legendary – a competitiveness between Australia’s two largest cities that can be found from the sporting fields to the bar rooms of pubs. During the 1950s Melbourne’s Young and Jackson… Read More ›
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Blue’s Point Hotel has undergone many changes since its establishment in 1864
THE Blues Point Hotel, at McMahon Point, North Sydney, has undergone a few transformations since it was established in 1864. The current pub was built in 1938, however the site at the southern corner of Blues Point Road and French… Read More ›
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Fuelled by beer, Dajarra Hotel’s famous nudes were painted by a miner with house paint
Dajarra Hotel is a remote outback pub near the Queensland border with the Northern Territory. It’s about 150km south of Mount Isa on the Diamantina Developmental Road. The pub became famous in the 1970s for its busty nudes painted by… Read More ›
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Australia Hotel’s long bar and the quirky practice of throwing coins into its chandeliers
THE Long Bar of the Australia Hotel, known all over the world, is having its character changed. Half its length has closed down and will be converted into a series of short island bars, with a cocktail bar at the… Read More ›
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His first for the day: Commercial Hotel, Hebel
IN the early 1970s, writer, John Larkins and photographer, Bruce Howard went on a 40,000km pub crawl around Australia, telling their wives, “Don’t wait up!” With Larkins wonderful words, and Howards’ fabulous photos, they chronicled an amazing snap shot of… Read More ›
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The Leap Hotel, Mandarana Mountain
IN the early 1970s, writer, John Larkins and photographer, Bruce Howard went on a 40,000km pub crawl around Australia, telling their wives, “Don’t wait up!” With Larkins wonderful words, and Howards’ fabulous photos, they chronicled an amazing snap shot of… Read More ›
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Appin Hotel was established on the busy main road between Sydney and Illawarra in the 1840s
AN entertaining story was published in the newspaper, the Sydney Mail, on April 30 1930 to mark the demolition of Appin’s historic Royal Hotel. A Fellow of the Royal Australian Historical Society, Frank Walker penned the story, which revealed how… Read More ›
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Wharfies at Sydney’s Harbour View Hotel insisted on fresh flowers in the bar every day
WHO would have thought? The wharfies who frequented the Harbour View Hotel in the shadow of the Sydney Harbour Bridge at Millers Point during the early 1950s insisted on having fresh flowers in the bar every day – and, as… Read More ›
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Melbourne inns that have gone
A FASCINATING story, published in the Melbourne Argus on August 25, 1945, revealed a glimpse into some of Melbourne’s early inns and hotels. Ernest McCaughan writes in his story that to anyone acquainted with Melbourne in the last century nothing… Read More ›
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Walter sat at the same table in Adelaide’s Exchange Hotel for 42 years
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN the Exchange Hotel was demolished in February 1960, it ended more than 120 years of Adelaide’s history. In fact, it destroyed the city’s oldest pub. There had been a hotel on the north-east corner of… Read More ›