By MICK ROBERTS © UPDATE June 2025: We are saddened to learn of the passing of publican, Maxine Dragojlo at the age of 69 in June 2025. Our condolences to husband, Peter and family. UPDATE April 2026: After almost 38… Read More ›
Queensland hotels
Update on historic Brisbane landmark, the Lord Stanley Hotel and its $15m overhaul
ONE of Brisbane’s most cherished historical landmarks, the Lord Stanley Hotel, is currently undergoing a $15 million transformative refurbishment that promises to restore the grandeur of this iconic venue. Originally built in 1889-90 by Walter Samuel Smith and designed by… Read More ›
The Bush Inn and its publican’s lonely death in the Queensland outback
By MICK ROBERTS © PUBLICAN Tim Lorigan’s epitaph, carved into his tombstone, reveals in straight forward terms the goldfield publican’s untimely death. It simply reads: “Died in the bush, Queensland”. The publican’s lonely demise in outback Queensland in 1892 must… Read More ›
The war years at Jack Ahern’s Hamilton Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN Jack Ahern took the reins of his first pub at Hamilton, in what is today an affluent riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, he quickly put his stamp on the popular drinking hole. The Hamilton… Read More ›
The sad demise of publican and courtesan the ‘Eulo Queen’
By MICK ROBERTS © AN attractive, wealthy woman in her youth, the desire of many of her customers, publican, Isabel Gray, in her twilight years lived a pitiful life in squalor, struggling to make ends meet and battling mental health… Read More ›
Queensland hotels of long ago
THE old pubs of Queensland were recalled by William Lees in an entertaining feature story published in ‘The Queenslander’ newspaper on September 5 1935. In his story, he tells of the shanties and inns of outback Queensland and the legendary… Read More ›
Historic Mount Garnet pub calls last drinks
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Mount Garnet Hotel, located 163km south-west of Cairns, has called last drinks. Sadly the historic pub – the town’s last – will close on October 29 2023. The Mount Garnet Hotel posted to its Facebook… Read More ›
Mine’s a ‘Lady Blamey’: Beer served-up in cut-off beer bottles
By MICK ROBERTS © WALKING the mine-field of the various names of beer glass-sizes in Australia can be tricky – especially when you’re from inter-state. There’s the butcher, the handle, a pot, middy, and, of course, the schooner. While many… Read More ›
Old Tom Thorne and the Golden Spur Hotel, Baree
OLD Tom Thorne, who built the Golden Spur Hotel in the Central Queensland gold mining town of Baree, needed to be “a hard headed, two fisted man” to hold his own with the clientele. Even though Tom, who hosted the… Read More ›
The mysterious Jim Cavill and his Surfers Paradise Hotel
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 ›