I SUPPOSE a pub named after a tragic event in Australian history, should share a few stories of misery alongside its tales of cheer. The Leap Hotel, located on the Bruce Highway, about 20 kilometres north-west of Mackay in north… Read More ›
Queensland hotels
Road Trip: The pubs of far north Queensland’s back country
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 ›
Road Trip: Millaa Millaa and beyond
OUR road trip to north Queensland in September 2020 provided us with the opportunity of visiting the small rural townships of Millaa Millaa, Ravenshoe and Mount Garnet. While we’ve visited the Atherton Tablelands in the past, this time we had… Read More ›
Queen’s Hotel, Mossman
A COUNTRY HOTEL M.A. Tyrell’s Hotel at the Mossman, Port Douglas. (Photo by H. C. P. Crees.) One of the rising localities of North Queensland is the Mossman River in the locality of Port Douglas. Here the rich river flats… Read More ›
Royal Hotel, Brisbane
AIRY, SPACIOUS BARS AND LOUNGES Royal Hotel Has New Features ENTIRELY remodelled from roof to cellar, and the very latest ideas in hotel construction incorporated, the old Royal Hotel, for many years a landmark in Queen-street, is now one of… Read More ›
Pub resorts to sawn-off bottles, jars and enamel mugs during war time beer glass shortages
AUSTERITY BEER MUGS BEER AT Hides Hotel, Cairns, is served in sawn-off beer bottles, coffee jars, enamel mugs, and honey jars. The manager says all the hotel’s drinking glasses have been “souvenired.” Prices for drinks range from 9d to 3/6,… Read More ›
Kingaroy’s not-so temporary Broadway Hotel
THIS grand structure was branded Queensland’s strangest hotel in 1934. The “temporary bar”, serving the license purposes of the Broadway Hotel, near Kingaroy, had been serving-up beer for 21 months when this grainy photo was published in the Brisbane Week on January… Read More ›
Queensland’s ‘sedated swill’ at 8pm
By MICK ROBERTS © UNLIKE most of Australia, Queensland and Western Australia had a ‘watered-down’ version of the infamous ‘six-o’clock swill’. The ‘swill’ was a nickname given to the frenzied rush by Australians and New Zealanders to buy drinks from… Read More ›
Evolution of the Australian beer glass
From pint, to long sleever, to pot 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 visiting… Read More ›