YOU could be forgiven for thinking you are looking at an old English inn, and not an inner-city Melbourne pub when first setting eyes on the Mitre Tavern. Melbourne City Council documents it as its oldest building. Less than five… Read More ›
Victoria hotels
Carlton’s United States Hotel publican charged with murder after shooting dead an intruder
THE publican of Carlton’s United States Hotel had endured four raids by thieves within nine months before shooting dead an intruder in May 1925. Publican John Maxwell O’Shea shot Henry ‘Pony’ Dodds while he was attempting to climb over the… Read More ›
Frightening tales from two wayside inns
The Midnight Prowler IT was dark when Burnett, and I pulled up at Sunder’s pub and asked the distance to Muralla. We had just finished a droving contract and were bound for that one-horse township to see if we could… Read More ›
Cloudy the pony enjoyed a beer at the bar
CLOUDY was a pony that made the news with his beer drinking antics in 1953. The 88cm (35 inch) pony, reported the World’s News on March 23, had raised around £800 by appearing at fairs, fetes and parades. Besides his… Read More ›
The flash bars of Melbourne’s Royal Mail Hotel
The Royal Mail, Bourke and Swanston Streets, Melbourne CHARLES LEECH, Proprietor. THIS famous hotel is a notable landmark of Melbourne, and is one of the most popular houses of call in the city. Under the energetic guidance of the present… Read More ›
Roast beef, crisp brown spuds and a few ‘long-uns’ at the Cecil Inn
By MICK ROBERTS © IN a secluded, heavily timbered valley in the Victorian Highlands, about 20 km north-east of Morwell, once traded a small timber inn, famous for serving-up to its guests mouth-watering roast beef, crisp brown potatoes, and ‘long-uns’… Read More ›
The untold story of Mrs Jones, Ned Kelly and the Glenrowan Inn
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Glenrowan Inn where the bushranger Ned Kelly’s ‘last stand’ took place in 1880 is arguably Australia’s most infamous pub. While the history of bushranger Ned Kelly is well documented, the story of Glenrowan Inn host,… 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 ›
Publican blames illegal beer on Father Christmas
MELBOURNE, Tuesday – The woman licensee of a Ballarat hotel raided at midnight, told police who found three bottles of beer in the lounge: “They don’t belong to me Father Christmas must have dropped them through the roof”. Ownership of… Read More ›