THE pub at Tilpa in far west NSW has more than a century of stories under its belt; although none can top the one about the man who built the single storey tin and timber wayside stop, late in the… Read More ›
NSW hotels
Before Kings Cross, Wynyard was Sydney’s ‘trouble spot’ for drunken behaviour
EIGHTY years before Kings Cross gained a reputation as a trouble spot for drunken behaviour (which lead to the controversial 2014 Sydney lock-out laws*) the streets around Wynyard had earned a similar status. Police described Wynyard as “one of the… Read More ›
Hill End once had 28 pubs… Now there’s just one
IT is difficult to find a place in Australia where there is not someone, who, at some time or other, has been connected in some way, with the old mining village of Hill End (NSW). This is not to be… Read More ›
Barman charged with smuggling gold: Metropolitan Hotel, Paddington
By MICK ROBERTS © A YOUNG barman at Paddington’s Metropolitan Hotel was lucky to have escaped with a £75 good behaviour bond after he was caught smuggling £200 worth of gold out of Australia in 1948. While visiting the subcontinent on a… Read More ›
The resurrection of a city pub: The Belvedere Hotel, Sydney
Belvedere Hotel, Sydney 1930. Picture: Noel Butlin Archives, Australian National University. By MICK ROBERTS © SOME pubs just refuse to die. The Belvedere Hotel at the corner of Kent and Bathurst Street in Sydney’s CBD returned from the dead after closing… Read More ›
Romano’s Hotel, Wagga Wagga
BELLAIR’S HOTEL is the leading- house on the Southern line, and commands a large business from the travelling- public. The hotel has been in the hands of the Bellair family for over 25 years. Our illustrations show the hotel property… Read More ›
‘B’ Day brings celebrations after six month brewery strike ends
IN what can only be described as typical Aussie humour, when the beer began to flow again across NSW following a six month strike at Tooth’s Kent Brewery in April 1946, it was quickly declared “B-Day”. Tooth’s were the biggest… Read More ›
Fruitless poker machines
As poker machines crept their way into the public bars of Australian pubs in the 1930s, the great debate (which continues to this day) and our fascination with the ‘one-armed-bandits’ was ignited. The Sydney Arrow reported on Friday April 8… Read More ›
The flamboyant, singing publican
By MICK ROBERTS © A FLAMBOYANT opera singer, who gained his stage name from actress Ann Sheridan, was the publican responsible for giving Jamberoo its English Tudor style pub. The larger than life character is said to have renovated… Read More ›
How Surry Hills’ former Belmore Park Hotel got its name
NOW a bustling little café, the former Belmore Park Hotel at the corner of Mary and Reservoir Streets, Surry Hills was established in 1870 by 33-year-old Henry Qualmer and his wife Teresa. The Qualmers hosted the pub through the 1870s,… Read More ›