Bartholomew Cornelius O’Brien managed the Court Hotel at the corner of Beaufort and James streets Perth for over 35 years, first taking the reins in 1903. After his death in 1938, his sons took control, resulting in the O’Brien family… Read More ›
Western Australia hotels
Criterion Hotel, Kalgoorlie
Re-union of West Australians A very enjoyable smoke social was held recently at the Criterion Hotel, Kalgoorlie, the occasion being a reunion of West Australians and Perth residents residing on the goldfields. Mr. E. McGinn occupied the chair. During the… Read More ›
Freemasons Hotel, Norseman
SCENE OF HECTIC NORSEMAN BEER BATTLE THE HOTEL AT NORSEMAN (WA), where after the conclusion of the ‘Beer Strike’ this week, there was a free fight. Pots were hurled about, beer was seized and eventually the publican had to turn… Read More ›
Exchange Hotel, Pingelly
WHEELBARROW BUG BITES PINGELLY FOR A £10 SIDE WAGER, Bert Wilson, a Pingelly blacksmith (WA), pushed Ben Jackson (sitter) in a barrow from Brookton to Pingelly (12½ miles) in 5 hours, 14 minutes. The wager was that the distance would… Read More ›
Niagara Hotel, Niagara WA
THE township of Niagara was said to be unique in having four hotels, one on each corner of the crossroads, in the centre of the township. Niagara is an abandoned town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, between Kalgoorlie and Leonora, 12km southwest of Kookynie. The first pub… Read More ›
Grand Hotel Coolgardie
THE hotel pictured on this page is undoubtedly one of the finest structures on the [gold] fields. Situated in a commanding position on a rise at the corner of Lefroy and Sylvester streets, its magnificent proportions compel the attention and… Read More ›
The man who invented the ‘lock-nut’, entrepreneur James H. Shekleton was also a bush publican
By MICK ROBERTS © NOT far from where a long-forgotten bush pub once traded, 450kms east of Perth in the Western Australian outback, sits the lonely grave of Scotsman, Tom Davidson. The goldfields of Western Australia are a strange last… Read More ›
Uncle Obadiah wasn’t impressed with family friendly pubs: ‘We used to play darts with crowbars and the barmen buried the losers’
WHEN a progressive publican spent £2,000 in 1946 making his Western Australian goldfields’ hotel family friendly, he came in for some criticism from the old-guard; those who thought pubs should be exclusively for the pleasures of men, and strictly for… Read More ›
Oroya Palace Hotel, Sandstone
SANDSTONE is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia, 661km north of Perth. The town was first settled in 1894 as part of a gold rush. By 1907 the population of the town had swelled to over 6,000 and it… Read More ›
The old ‘Conti’ pub, Broome: ‘a great, ugly edifice, but oh, so charming’…
LIKE Broome of old, the original Continental Hotel, in Western Australia’s Kimberley, has made way for the new. In his book, ‘Australian Pubs’, John Larkins described the original corrugated iron pub, with its cooling verandah slung along its front, as… Read More ›