Recent Posts - page 2
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Dicey Riley’s: Wollongong’s iconic Irish pub story
By MICK ROBERTS © THE history of Wollongong’s last main street pub, Dicey Riley’s can be traced-back to when James Cosgrove was granted a publican’s license for the site almost 165 year ago. Like all good pub yarns, the colourful… Read More ›
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Crown Hotel gas explosion killed Surry Hills’ newspaper vendor
By MICK ROBERTS © FATE dealt an elderly pensioner a cruel and fatal blow outside a Sydney pub just three days before Christmas, 1948. Like today, Surry Hills at the corner of Crown and Cleveland Streets, outside the Crown Hotel,… Read More ›
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Discover the Royal Hotel Singleton: A historic family pub
LOCATED in the NSW Hunter Valley, the Royal Hotel at Singleton, is one of the region’s oldest pubs, established in 1859, and offering hospitality for over 165 years. Today the pub provides bistro dining, a large beer garden, motel rooms,… Read More ›
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Fred Klauer, musician, digger, raconteur and publican
The following first-hand account from a famous, well-known Adelaide publican, Frederick William Augustus Klauer, was published in the South Australian publication, Quiz and the Lantern, on 17 February 1898. It’s a fascination look into the life of a German immigrant,… Read More ›
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A Christmas Eve encounter: Hope in the outback
By J. H. HEATHCOTE IN the cool of the evening of December 24 a poorly-clad woman could be seen pushing a home-made cart along the one and only street in a certain far-western township. In the cart was a young… Read More ›
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Unravelling St Kilda Hotel’s legacy in Armidale
By MICK ROBERTS © Ever wondered why there’s a pub Armidale, a city located in the New England region of northern NSW, named the St Kilda Hotel? We did, so we did a little research. The St Kilda Hotel was opened… Read More ›
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Controversy surrounded opening of Whitfield’s Thirroul pub
By MICK ROBERTS © REGULARS at Thirroul’s Ryan’s Hotel can thank pioneer baker George Whitford for his persistence in establishing their local watering hole. Whitford was determined to have his bakery opened as the village’s first pub, trying for almost… Read More ›
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The haunting history of Bald Nob’s Junction Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © A NEGLECTED, ramshackle survivor from our pioneering past, the old Bald Nob inn possesses all the ingredients to conjure up tales of troubled spirits with unfinished business. Under its roof, fortunes were lost and life’s ruined…. Read More ›
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Exploring the legacy of Halfway House Antill Ponds
By MICK ROBERTS © ONLY ruins remain of a well-known Tasmanian landmark on the road between Hobart and Launceston. The Halfway House at Antill Ponds was a two-storey stone hotel, which serviced travellers and residents with accommodation, meals and liquor… Read More ›
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The mystery of E. Wells: A HMAS Sydney survivor?
ABLE seaman E. Wells was featured in this fantastic image published in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on 11 February 1941. The previous day, Wells had disembarked the HMAS Sydney and was enjoying “a long drink of Sydney beer – his… Read More ›
Featured Categories
Hobart hotels ›
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Hobart’s Liverpool Street was ‘infested with prostitutes’ and pubs that were the ‘worst dens of infamy’
June 11, 2023
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Hobart’s hoteliers founded Australia’s first industry advocacy group
June 7, 2023
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Beer drums on trial
August 26, 2019
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The pubs and brothels of Hobart’s Watchorn Street
June 17, 2019
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Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart
August 17, 2017
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Pugnacious publican
February 25, 2017
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Early pubs of Hobart: The romance of Tasmania’s hostelries
June 11, 2016
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Publican painter
May 4, 2015
Darwin hotels ›
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Publican unlucky in love: Wealthy hotelier murdered by cheating wife
January 14, 2024
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Darwin’s ravenous termites devoured 80 barrels of beer
May 20, 2023
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Hotel Darwin
August 17, 2017
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The 1948 crocodile encounter at Hotel Darwin
March 15, 2017
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Darwin beer supply ‘white-anted’
March 9, 2017
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The Vic survived three cyclones…
December 24, 2016
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Darwin hotel explosion
October 19, 2016
Perth Hotels ›
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Perth’s old and new Imperials
February 12, 2026
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Road Trip: Pubs of Western Australia’s South-West and Wheatbelt Country
May 18, 2025
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Bushrangers and desperadoes gathered at the Mahogany Creek inn
April 3, 2024
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Policeman shot dead in bar of Perth’s Brisbane Hotel
August 1, 2020
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Perth publican ‘Old Penn’ was a colourful character: A history of the Woodbridge Hotel
June 7, 2020
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Three Western Australian publicans from the past
March 28, 2020
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Zandra the pub nude made Chloe look like ‘an elderly spinster in a red flannel negligee’
March 9, 2020
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Perth newspaper vendor, Jimmy could make beer run up hill
January 14, 2020
Melbourne Hotels ›
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Marion ‘Bill’ Edwards was Australia’s first known transgender barman
October 10, 2024
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Melbourne’s Apollo Inn traded for over eight decades
June 1, 2023
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Olive’s three ‘petticoat pubs’ were run entirely by women
October 4, 2021
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Melbourne’s historic Mitre Tavern has served-up beer for over 150 years
January 29, 2021
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Carlton’s United States Hotel publican charged with murder after shooting dead an intruder
September 3, 2020
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The flash bars of Melbourne’s Royal Mail Hotel
February 29, 2020
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Melbourne hotelier, Jimmy Richardson
November 12, 2019
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Naked woman takes a dip in pub’s water trough
August 18, 2019
Sydney hotels ›
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History of The Whalers Arms Pubs in Sydney
April 25, 2026
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History of Parramatta’s Oldest Pub: The Rose and Crown
April 14, 2026
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Discover the Keighery Hotel: A Piece of Sydney’s History
April 8, 2026
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Crown Hotel gas explosion killed Surry Hills’ newspaper vendor
January 14, 2026
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The mystery of E. Wells: A HMAS Sydney survivor?
September 19, 2025
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Opening of Granville’s Vauxhall Inn was celebrated with ‘buckets of rum’
December 1, 2023
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Identity of man found dead at North Sydney hotel remains mystery almost 60 years later
August 2, 2023
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Surry Hills’ notorious bloodhouse, the Sunbeam Hotel
August 1, 2023
Adelaide hotels ›
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Fred Klauer, musician, digger, raconteur and publican
January 1, 2026
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Adelaide pub drinkers’ response to plastic bib proposal – 1954
September 10, 2024
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Early inns and taverns of Adelaide and South Australia
January 20, 2024
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Mine’s a ‘Lady Blamey’: Beer served-up in cut-off beer bottles
September 15, 2023
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Against all odds: Despite an abusive husband, hotelier Margaret Radestock became a successful business woman
February 17, 2023
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How a thatched tavern in Adelaide’s south-west doubled as a church: The Brighton Metro Hotel
November 16, 2020
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Adelaide’s last barmaid: When women were barred from behind the bar
December 31, 2019
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Commercial Hotel is Port Adelaide’s oldest licensed pub
June 5, 2019
Brisbane hotels ›
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The Tragic Tale of Brisbane Publican Ann Witham and the Dunmore Arms
May 22, 2026
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Update on historic Brisbane landmark, the Lord Stanley Hotel and its $15m overhaul
November 28, 2024
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The war years at Jack Ahern’s Hamilton Hotel
April 14, 2024
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Queensland hotels of long ago
November 4, 2023
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Wealthy Brisbane publican died penniless after she was hit by a tram
December 25, 2021
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Blackbirder established the Queen’s Hotel on the Brisbane River wharves
December 5, 2021
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Royal Hotel, Queen Street, Brisbane: 1862-1970
May 31, 2020
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Drinkers join the Salvos in Christmas carols outside South Brisbane pub
December 24, 2019