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 ›
“Whoe’er has travelled life’s dull round, ‘Where’er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an Inn.” SHORTLY after white settlement, Sydney had an assortment of public houses with quaint names… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © BEWARE the grog at the Black Dog, they warned. And for good reason! A short, but steep walk up Brown Bear Lane from George Street at The Rocks during the first half of the 19th century, would… Read More ›
By LESLIE F. HANNON TURN down any of the jigsaw streets on the northernside of Wynyard Square, run down the rock-hewn steps, slip through the twisting lanes behind the bondstores, and you are standing in chapter one of Australia’s history. The stout chipped stone blocks of the hotels, shops, warehouses, and residential that crowd the foot paths can tell… Read More ›
By BILL BEATTY DESERTED homesteads in the outback country are by no means uncommon, but a deserted hotel – fully furnished – is a novelty, at least in these days. Yet there is such a hotel near the old mining township… Read More ›