Yes… There’s another Bulli, besides in the Illawarra, NSW. Bulli Creek is located south west of Toowoomba in Queensland on the Darling Downs. And yes, there is also another Bulli pub, besides the Illawarra’s Heritage Hotel… Well, kind-of… Bulli Creek… Read More ›
The Kings Head Hotel was located on the north-west corner of Elizabeth and Parks Streets, Sydney. It ceased trading on August 19 1972, and was demolished and replaced with an office tower. By Jacqueline Smith TO the regulars at… Read More ›
MICK ROBERTS © WELL over six feet tall and solidly built, Andrew Lysaght was an imposing and colourful Illawarra publican pioneer. A magistrate, who resigned after a parliamentary inquiry found he called the Wollongong Police Sergeant an “old woman”, he wasn’t… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE 19th century produced many notorious publicans. Arguably none though were as notorious as ‘baby farmers’, John and Sarah Makin, one time hosts of Wollongong’s Royal Alfred Hotel. John and Sarah Jane Makin were convicted in 1893 for… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THREATENED with demolition during the 1990s and described by the hopeful developer at the time as worthless of preservation, the ‘Fountain on the Mountain’ – the Balgownie Hotel, through a concerted community effort, survived to celebrate… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © A ROYAL romance with a murder conspiracy theory, a celebrity scandal, mysterious deaths, and a tragic love story ending in suicide, are the stand-out headlines during the Empire Hotel’s 35 year history. Rising from the ashes… Read More ›
DURING the presentation of awards after a major sporting carnival at Quirindi, a town in the north-west slopes region of NSW, it was a miracle no one was killed when a pub’s balcony collapsed. The collapsing of the balcony resulted… Read More ›
OFTEN A thankless job, involving mundane tasks, yardmen were – and still are in many bush and regional pubs – an indispensable cog in the works of a successfully operating hotel. Usually knock-about blokes employed to do odd-jobs around the… Read More ›
A PUBLICAN in shearing country once told me a beaut yarn. Before taking the license of a pub in the Riverina district of NSW, he was host of a pub in Wollongong. So he wasn’t accustomed to the drinking habits… Read More ›
An unusual explosion took place in the Border City Hotel at Albury, when a cask of beer in the cellar exploded, sending the flooring into the bar. A wooden mallet, which was lying on top of the casks was driven through the… Read More ›