NSW hotels

A tribute to the pub ‘boots’, yardmen and the odd jobs knock-about bloke

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 ›

The Hero of The Rocks

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 ›

Publicans and guests ‘got by’ in one-day hotel strike

Illawarra Mercury Thursday 8 December 1949: Hotel bars in the Illawarra district were closed on Thursday owing to the one day stop work meeting of members of the Hotels and Restaurant Employees’ Union. For publicans’ wives and families it was one of the busiest days on record,… Read More ›