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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Grand accommodation for seven shillings a night along the Pittsworth Road
The Brisbane Telegraph published this fantastic photograph taken in the Darling Downs, of South West Queensland on November 30 1933 with the statement: “We wonder whether the traveller who camped under this well known hotel sign on the Pittsworth Road… Read More ›
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Southern Cross Hotel, Adelaide
By MICK ROBERTS © THE bloodied body of 29-year-old George Norton, found at the rear steps of the Southern Cross Hotel in Adelaide one Summer night in 1954 immediately sparked the suspicion of authorities. Police at first suspected foul play, but… Read More ›
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Pubs full to the brim on Canberra’s first ‘wet’ Sunday
Hotel bar staffs through out Canberra were “flat out” yesterday, bottle departments were “booming” and beer gardens were “chock-a-block” on the first “wet” Sunday in the ACT. A spokesman for the Statesman Hotel at Curtin said the hotel’s… Read More ›
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Darlingford Hotel’s ‘watery grave’: How a pub was submerged by Sugarloaf Weir
THE site of the Darlingford Hotel now sits at the bottom of Lake Eildon, a rock and earth-fill embankment dam across the Goulburn River, between the regional towns of Mansfield and Eildon in the Alpine region of Victoria. Darlingford, named… Read More ›
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Road trip: a few Marrickville pubs
INNER west Sydney’s diminishing art-deco architecture was the focus of our road trip when Time Gents visited four pubs in and around Marrickville late last month. A relatively short drive from our inner-city base, is the destination we like to… Read More ›
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Constable’s beer was kept cool in the pub’s horse watering trough
Keeping the constable’s beer cool THE transfer recently of a senior constable, to a northern Victorian town calls to mind an amusing incident that occurred years ago when the senior, before his promotion, was a constable on street duty in… Read More ›
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This will make your mouth dry…
YOU BEAUT! Tooheys brewery went to the rescue of city hotels today when thirsty shoppers crowded bars. Here is some of the brewery’s stock that employees rushed to hotels. -The Sydney Sun Thursday 24 December 1953
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Oroya Palace Hotel, Sandstone
THE THIRSTY GOLDFIELDS: The Oroya Palace Hotel at Sandstone in 1912. The proprietor, John McManaway, was an old Murchison identity. He is shown in the photograph standing on the curbing.– Western Mail (Perth WA) Thursday 17 June 1937 * The hotel was named after… Read More ›
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Thirsty Newcastle customers
With temperatures rising to 90 degrees [32.2 celsius] in Newcastle yesterday, the hotels were thronged with thirsty customers – so thirsty that the beer supplies failed in some cases. This group made a typical scene during the afternoon. – Newcastle… Read More ›
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Historic Sydney bar ended up in the Great Western Hotel, Orange
Sydney bar travels 250 kilometres west to Orange By MICK ROBERTS © THERE’S a pub in the central west tablelands of NSW that has links to one of Sydney’s most famous early colonial hotels. After its closure in 1950, the… Read More ›