By MICK ROBERTS © SOME would describe rowdy nights at the pub – especially towards ‘last drinks’ – as a bit of a circus. So, it seems kind-of appropriate the matriarch of the famous Perry Brothers Circus, Mary Ellen Perry,… Read More ›
NSW hotels
Outback sands reclaim ‘The Beer With No Pub’, at Yanco Glen
By MICK ROBERTS © SADLY the striking red sands and hardy outback desert shrubs have reclaimed where once the Yanco Glen Hotel served-up icey cold beers to weary travellers. Made nationally famous by the iconic promotional photograph of legendary country… Read More ›
Evolution of the Australian beer glass
From pint and long sleever, to pot, middy and schooner By MICK ROBERTS © THE ‘long sleever’ was an impressive looking beer glass that stood 45cm high and held an Imperial pint, or 20 fluid ounces. In colonial times, when… Read More ›
Knife wielding ‘lunatic’, suffering from ‘religious-mania’, ransacked Bulli pub
By MICK ROBERTS © A MAN discharged from a lunatic asylum caused headlines around the country when armed with a knife, he ransacked the Star of the Sea Hotel at Bulli, south of Sydney, in 1896. John Reynolds and his… Read More ›
Two true tales from the bar of the long-gone Wollongong Hotel
A BEAUT yarn I recall about a long departed Wollongong pub happened back in the early 1980s during my employment with the now defunct Australian government telecommunications company, Telecom. Basically, my job as an assistant linesman involved helping repair and… Read More ›
The true tale of the ‘ghost’ of Bulli pub revealed in new book
EVERYONE loves a good ghost story – especially when it involves a pub. Bulli’s Heritage Hotel, on the NSW South Coast, has been ‘haunted’ by ‘Old Ted’, a former publican, for almost 90 years. Many a publican and resident of… Read More ›
Bellambi pub had its own private passenger train to take guests to beach
NOT many pubs can boast of their own private passenger train. Well, Bellambi Hotel on the NSW South Coast, can… The pub had its own train, which took guests to the beach. William Wilson, manager of the South Bulli Colliery… Read More ›
The Prince of Wales and the Tyrone Hotel
THERE’S nothing to suggest, along a lonely stretch of highway about 35km north of Coonamble on the central-western plains of NSW, that a future King of England once called into a bush pub and shouted the bar. There’s nothing remaining… Read More ›
Boxing champ cut his teeth on Singleton’s Terminus Hotel
FORMER world bantamweight champion, Jimmy Carruthers, claimed that serving beer in a crowded bar was harder than a day’s gymnasium work. Carruthers, after his retirement from the ring, spent a few weeks working at the Terminus Hotel, Singleton (NSW) during… Read More ›