A FREE counter lunch was being served at a well-known pub in Castlereagh-street, Sydney, where “thirsty men leaned comfortably over glasses of foaming lager”, reported the Sun newspaper on November 19 1929, when they were disturbed by a barefooted boy…. Read More ›
TWO Sydney barmaids — Billie Williams and Gladys Henwood — were not impressed by Melbourne’s champion beer puller, Cyril O’Brien, who boasted he could serve 1000 customers in an hour at the Windsor Hotel. Newspapers across the country reported in… Read More ›
Tragic Occurrence at a concert. death of ‘Andy’ blanchard, the vocalist. “Their heads nestled closer Together”. [Press Telegraph Association] Wollongong, Thursday. The fourth annual concert under the auspices of the Dapto Agricultural and Horticultural Society, held last night in the… Read More ›
SYDNEY: Sydney publican Max Shepherd, of the Northern Club Hotel [George Street], is providing super deluxe service for patrons. It includes: Films in the bar. Tape recordings of descriptions of past sport events. A pianist and piano-accordionist playing and singing to lounge… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © BETWEEN voyages an old sea captain was a regular visitor to the bar of Sydney’s Club House Hotel during the 1870s and 80s. Accompanying him, sitting on his shoulder – like all good seafaring captains of the… Read More ›
WHAT’S ANZAC Day without two-up? Two-up was played extensively during World War I by Australian diggers, who would flip coins as a way of relieving boredom. The exact origins of the gambling game are murky, but two-up is likely to… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © THE host of the Illawarra Hotel, Hilda Condon brought a touch of glamour to the New South Wales Liquor Royal Commission. The Wollongong socialite splashed a little razzle-dazzle – with her trademark styled blue hair, expensive… Read More ›
THOSE who appreciate fine art have likely heard of William Dobell’s oil painting, “Barmaid from Ushers Hotel”. The oil on masonite was painted of a somewhat gaunt looking barmaid at Ushers Hotel, Sydney during World War II. William Dobell (b.1899… Read More ›
WHILE a number of customers were collectively ‘blowing the froth off one’ at the Crecy Hotel, Oxford Street, on the morning of March 1, two Prices Branch officers ‘blew into’ the public bar and ordered two middies. Two noggins of the… Read More ›