By MICK ROBERTS © WHAT could be a more fitting story for Surfers Paradise then the rags-to-riches tale of a barber, who rose to become one of Queensland’s most successful businessmen through clever exaggeration, media manipulation and showmanship? James Freeman… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE unique north Queensland tendency of displaying stuffed crocodiles in pubs is said to have originated in Rockhampton, where the reptiles were once common, and fearless hunters were always on the ready to supply hotel hosts… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © A TRAGIC accident ended the life of Annie Teresa Cain, one of Brisbane’s most charismatic and generous publicans. Two days before Christmas, Annie jumped-off a tram at Bronte, in Sydney’s east, and was struck by another… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Queen’s Hotel, opposite the wharves on the Brisbane River, was a favourite haunt of sailors and the men working on the docks. And, no wonder. The pub sat opposite a small reserve dominated by a… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THERE were plenty of pleasurable pubs to visit and review on our 145km road trip south from Cairns to Feluga late last year. There’s the pub in the sugarcane-fields at Garradunga, said to be haunted by… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE O’Hara family just couldn’t shake the legacy of their predecessors. Despite the Hides not building or hosting the landmark hotel at the corner of Lake and Shields Streets, in the far northern Queensland city of… Read More ›
RETIRED journalist and one time publican, Philip Derriman, now living with his wife in Oberon, on the NSW Central Tablelands, has put together this interesting story for Time Gents about his father, Bernard Derriman. My father, Bernard Derriman (1902-77), widely… Read More ›
I SUPPOSE it should be expected that a pub named after a tragic event in Australian history, should harbour a few stories of misery alongside tales of cheer. The Leap Hotel, located on the Bruce Highway, about 20 kilometres north-west… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THEY’RE a hardy bunch, those who call far north Queensland’s back country home. They have to be. It’s harsh country, as we discovered on our road trip to Chillagoe, 200km west of Cairns, late in 2020…. Read More ›