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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It’s shabby but they love it: Brisbane’s Queen’s Hotel
The Queen’s Hotel traded at the corner of Charlotte and Creek Streets, Brisbane from 1865 to the late 1970s. The pub was established by a well-known ‘blackbirder’, Henry Lynde. On the eve of the historic’ pub’s demolition, The Brisbane Sunday… Read More ›
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Vale, a sailors’ pub: Port Hotel, Port Adelaide
PORT Adelaide pubs reflect South Australia’s maritime history in catering to the sailors of trading ships. The earliest recorded was the Port Hotel, which opened in 1838 – two years before the port was officially declared. The first hotel at the… Read More ›
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HE KNEW HIS LIMIT
OUTBACK PUB-KEEPER: “It’s forty miles to th’ next pub. MATILDA’S MAN: “Well, yer better give me two more pints. I can only go thirty miles to the gallon.” Published by Arrangement with the “Bulletin.” – Mudgee Guardian Thursday 23 December 1926, page 21
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Tasmania’s Travellers’ Rest traded as a pub for almost a century before becoming the Red Feather Inn
THE Red Feather Inn is a heritage listed building in the main street of the historic Tasmanian township of Hadspen. Hadspen is a town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania, near Launceston. The inn, known as… Read More ›
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Campbelltown’s Good Intent Hotel and its connection with Fisher’s ghost
NOW consigned to the pages of history, the Good Intent Hotel, at Campbelltown, in Sydney’s south-west, traded as a pub for less then 50 years. However, the site’s connection to hotel history stretches back a lot longer. The site was… Read More ›
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North Parramatta’s Rising Sun Inn
THE Rising Sun Inn was one of Sydney’s early roadside taverns, first licensed in 1840, and which continued to service travellers along Windsor Road for about 20 years before the site was purchased by the Catholic Church. The inn was… Read More ›
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Hotel Attractions
A RECENT news item tells that at a Grafton (NSW) hotel the barman keeps frogs in the bar in order to keep the place free from cockroaches. This recalls the fact that many country publicans have a wide variety of attractions in order to… Read More ›
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Evidence shows Tasmania’s Bush Inn is not Australia’s oldest continuously licensed pub
By MICK ROBERTS © AS soon as you set your eyes on Tasmania’s Bush Inn you can plainly see it’s a special pub. While the New Norfolk hotel holds an important place in Australian history and claims to be the… Read More ›
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MP ‘literally’ dropped into his local pub
HERE’S a yarn from the annals of Bulli’s old Denmark Hotel. The pub traded on the NSW South Coast from 1877 to 1911. On Boxing Day 1901, the local member of parliament, John Barnes Nicholson “dropped” into the the pub… Read More ›
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The Rex Hotel empire
DURING the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Rex Investments, a division of real estate company, L.J. Hooker, established a number of pubs around the suburbs of Sydney and regional Australia. The Rex Group’s first hotel was in Canberra and trades today… Read More ›