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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Criterion Hotel, Moree
FREE BEER All roads led to a bar at Moree the other day, when there was free beer for two hours to commemorate the opening of the Criterion Hotel, a new building which replaces the old Criterion, which was the… Read More ›
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Bush pub race meets
THE race meetings promoted by wayside publicans of the Outback are things of the past, and most of the old wayside pubs are things of the past, too, but many old residents of the wide western spaces can still remember… Read More ›
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Sturt Arcade Hotel, Adelaide
THE death of Mr W. Sandover, of Hose Park, in his eighty-seventh year, removes an old publican and politician who was an active public man in Adelaide from the early fifties to the eighties. Going to the Victorian diggings, he… Read More ›
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White Hart Hotel, Adelaide
THE LATE MR. F. W. A. KLAUER. Mr. Frederick William Augustus Klauer, late landlord of the White Hart Hotel, Hindley street [Adelaide], died on Friday, August 16, at the North Adelaide Private Hospital. The deceased, who was 76 years… Read More ›
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Buried treasure
About five years ago a box jewellery, valued at £200, was stolen out of the safe at Mr W. J. Fimister’s Wollongong Hotel, and although every search was made, no trace of the missing articles could be found. On Wednesday… Read More ›
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FREE BEER
Hospital Attractions The question of what becomes of beer confiscated by the police in raids upon sly grog shops was raised at Burwood Court yesterday. Mr. Williams S.M., said that he thought that the police sold the liquor. Sergeant Saunders said… Read More ›
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Last drinks: Strange tales of beer barrel grave memorials
THE South Australian mining town of Coober Pedy is known for its colourful characters. One of these legends was a bloke by the name of Karl Bratz. Karl, a miner who died in 1992 of cancer at the age of… Read More ›
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Man falls from bedroom window of Brisbane’s Story Bridge Hotel
“Accidentally falling 30 feet from his bedroom at the Story Bridge Hotel, Kangaroo Point [Brisbane], about 11 o’clock last night, David McCandlish, 32, a rivetter, was seriously injured. Three years ago a man fell from the same room on the… Read More ›
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Rolling out the (new style) barrel
Mr Kevin Vitnell, of Wallsend, lowers a 10-gallon stainless steel keg into the cellar of a city hotel yesterday. Stainless steel kegs are gradually replacing the traditional wooden keg in Newcastle. Brewers report that the timber for the wooden kegs… Read More ›
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Time waits for no man…
The referendum to decide whether hotels shall close at 6 p.m., 9 p.m., or 10 p.m., will be held to-morrow. “What are your views on 10 o’clock closing?” “Some other time, mate, I’ve only got five minutes before they shut!”… Read More ›