By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN the first public railway in NSW was opened from Redfern to Parramatta in 1855, publican William Stone, to celebrate the occasion, advertised the sale of “buckets of rum for a penny”. Stone had recently opened… Read More ›
NSW hotels
Beaches Hotel opened as Thirroul Rex 70 years ago
WHEN Thirroul’s Rex Hotel opened for business in 1953, it brought to a close a campaign lasting almost 30 years by brewery giant, Tooth and Company, to have a pub in the seaside town. Known today as ‘Beaches’, the pub,… Read More ›
Tragic tale of Edward killalea and his death at Wollongong’s Commercial Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN an Illawarra civic leader died on the sofa of Wollongong’s Commercial Hotel in 1872 the news caused a sensation. Edward Killalea was elected to the Shellharbour Municipal Council just two years before his death in 1872… Read More ›
Identity of man found dead at North Sydney hotel remains mystery almost 60 years later
THE identity of a man found dead at North Sydney’s long-gone Rest Hotel has remained a mystery for almost 60 years. The man, who was staying at the hotel under the name of ‘K. Cox’, was found dead in the… Read More ›
Surry Hills’ notorious bloodhouse, the Sunbeam Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © ALTHOUGH today you would be hard pressed to believe it, prior to gentrification, Surry Hills was home to some of Sydney’s toughest pubs. The pubs of the inner-Sydney suburb were haunts of the city’s shadiest characters… Read More ›
Hugh Hanna and Hill End’s Commercial Hotel, 1872 – 1904
By MICK ROBERTS © AS gold slowly vanished from Hill End, in the central tablelands region of NSW, so did many of its pubs. Of the dozens of pubs that traded in Hill End during the early 1870s, the Commercial… Read More ›
And then there were two… The last of Hill End’s 25 pubs
By MICK ROBERT © WHEN the doors of Weir’s Hotel closed for the last time in 1937, it left just one pub – the Royal – trading in the former gold mining town of Hill End. Hill End, which once… Read More ›
The inns and taverns of old Maitland
THE following story, published in the Maitland Weekly Mercury on December 24, 1927, gives a glimpse into the inns and taverns trading in the lower Hunter Valley of NSW, between the years of 1847 and 1851. Inns and taverns of… Read More ›
The Aussie pub named after a French president: The Cropper family’s two bush pubs
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Cropper family had a tragic start as hoteliers in the New England region of NSW. The family helped establish the historic Marshal MacMahon Hotel at Wallabadah, about 18 kilometres south of Tamworth, when William Cropper… Read More ›
Against all odds: Despite an abusive husband, hotelier Margaret Radestock became a successful business woman
By MICK ROBERTS © DEFYING the odds, Margaret Tabitha Radestock was a successful hotelier, who despite an abusive husband, and antiquated licensing laws, became a wealthy and respected South Australian businesswoman. The daughter of German winemakers, Margaret, after almost 20… Read More ›