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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Road Trip: Museum Hotel, West Wallsend
THE second stop on our visit to West Wallsend district’s watering holes this weekend was Lake Macquarie’s second oldest pub – The Museum Hotel. The West Wallsend pub – the last of the town’s pubs – opened in 1889, and… Read More ›
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Road Trip: Holmesville Hotel, Holmesville
TO think that the Holmesville Hotel was almost lost as a house of hospitality! Time Gents visited the West Wallsend district in NSW over the weekend, dropping into a few of the historic pubs, on what was rainy, miserable Queens… Read More ›
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Road Trip: The lost pubs of West Wallsend
FOR a little mining town that once had an unquenchable thirst, there’s little wonder six pubs traded at the same time early last century. Today, sadly just one pub remains in West Wallsend. That insatiable thirst seems to have been… Read More ›
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Gresham Hotel, Adelaide
HIS WOODEN LEG There were peculiar circumstance attached to a charge of begging at the Port Adelaide Police Court on Saturday. Timothy Byrnes a miner, of Adelaide, was charged, on the information of Inspector J. E. Noblet, with halving gone… Read More ›
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Road Trip: Killingworth Hotel, Killingworth
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN a group of men went to the Killingworth Hotel, a few days before Christmas 1952, asking for bottles of beer, the bar had been closed for an hour and half. It was way past… Read More ›
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Tiger Hotel Tantanoola
The two Tantanoola tigers IN 1884 near Tantanoola in South Australia’s south east a Bengal tiger supposedly escaped from a travelling circus. A search was mounted, but the tiger was never found. The South Australian Register reported on Tuesday 2… Read More ›
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Four in Hand Hotel, Paddington
BOUND BODY OF PENSIONER IN HOTEL SYDNEY, Monday – An 85 years old pensioner, Herbert Sidney Butler, was found dead today in his ransacked bed room in the Four-In-Hand Hotel, Paddington. He is believed to have, been attacked by burglars. He… Read More ›
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Tinned beer
DARWIN’S LATEST Tinned beer! One and six a Can! Guaranteed true to label. These may be typical headlines in future advertisements in Darwin. On Thursday’s mailplane a local storekeeper received a few sample tins of tinned beer, guaranteed of ever… Read More ›
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Lorne Hotel, Lorne
THE VARIETIES OF SUBURBAN LIFE – A CURIOUS COW. At the Colac Court, Victoria, Nellie Rooke, licensee of the Lorne Hotel, sued J. T. Anderson, storekeeper, of Lorne, for trespass by a cow. The cow was a source of constant… Read More ›
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Woolpack Hotel, Parramatta
LIKE GOOD WINE. THE GLAD HAND. Messrs, A. G. Papworth and T. Lockett extend mutual congratulations on the landing of a double at Menangle last week. —The Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW) Thursday 28 March 1929 WOOLPACK’S NEW VENTURE The new… Read More ›