THE BREAKING OF THE DROUGHT CAMPSIE is to have its only hotel, but many residents oppose the innovation. They allege that it will “bring undesirables to the district, and by the cause of disturbances. The history of Campsie for the… Read More ›
Sydney hotels
Colouring hotel beer slops
Ounce of Dye Colours a million gallons Hotel keepers unaware chemist sold drip beer colouring One ounce of methyl violet, costing about 4 shillings, would colour 1,000,000 gallons of beer. Methyl violet is the dye with which hotelkeepers are now… Read More ›
Beer all day packs the bar
THIS 1949 photo shows the packed bar of a Liverpool Street hotel in Sydney during a day when it sold draught and bottled beer from 10am to 5.30pm. The picture shows the congestion in the public bar at 4pm when most… Read More ›
Farewell to the wooden beer barrel as steel kegs are rolled-out across Sydney
The introduction of stainless steel beer kegs into the pubs of Sydney, and across Australia, during the early 1950s also meant the demise of the skillful craft of the cooper. The Fairfield Biz reported on an industry that was in… Read More ›
Murderer shot the wrong man outside Sydney’s Camelia Grove Hotel
AN ongoing feud between Cecil ‘Tibby’ Bell and the Thornton brothers came to a tragic end outside the public bar of the Camelia Grove Hotel in Sydney’s inner-south on a summer’s night in 1930. Born in 1910, Tibby Bell grew-up… Read More ›
Publican, Rose Rooney: Sydney’s Diamond Queen
By MICK ROBERTS © KNOWN as the ‘Diamond Queen’, publican Rose Rooney was the toast of Sydney’s Bohemian social life for over 20 years. There were few as colourful as Rose, who possessed of personality, and a lively wit, attracted… Read More ›
Woolpack Hotel, Canterbury
AN ANCIENT HOSTELRY There are several Woolpack Hotels in the State, but the oldest of them all, with the exception perhaps of that at Parramatta, has lately been demolished at Canterbury. The earliest inhabitants, differ as to its age. Some… Read More ›
Lanie, the Rock’s bawdy drag queen, reigned over her left handed pub for more than 25 years
Observer Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney By MICK ROBERTS © ALTHOUGH right-handed, when I drop into the Observer Hotel at Sydney’s Rocks, I like to drink a beer using my left hand. The gesture is in memory of a left-handed drag-queen… Read More ›
Century old Sans Souci Hotel fell to the hand of ‘progress’ in 1921
BUILT by convict labour about 1815, the large sandstone coaching inn known as the Sans Souci Hotel in southern Sydney met its demise after more than a century of trade in 1921. The hotel was located just west of the… Read More ›
Redfern’s Abercrombie Hotel, Sydney’s beer shortages and Richmond beer
By MICK ROBERTS © DURING World War II limits were placed on beer production in Australia, requiring breweries to reduce their output by two-thirds. Rationing of beer came into force in March 1943, and by January 1943, newspapers were reporting… Read More ›