Recent Posts - page 5
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Legendary outback publican: Hermann Schmidt
By MICK ROBERTS © THERE are some publicans who truly earn a legendary status. As a bush publican, shearer, colt-breaker, mail coach driver, boundary rider, noted athlete, scalper, and successful racehorse owner and trainer, Hermann Schmidt, was one of those… Read More ›
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Identity of man found dead at North Sydney hotel remains mystery almost 60 years later
THE identity of a man found dead at North Sydney’s long-gone Rest Hotel has remained a mystery for almost 60 years. The man, who was staying at the hotel under the name of ‘K. Cox’, was found dead in the… Read More ›
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The pub in the Dandenong Ranges with an unusual name: The Dolce Domum Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © IN the heart of Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges in the charming town of Olinda is the Mount Dandenong Hotel, an hour’s drive from Melbourne and a favourite weekend dining destination for city dwellers. The Mount Dandenong Hotel… Read More ›
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Old Tom Thorne and the Golden Spur Hotel, Baree
OLD Tom Thorne, who built the Golden Spur Hotel in the Central Queensland gold mining town of Baree, needed to be “a hard headed, two fisted man” to hold his own with the clientele. Even though Tom, who hosted the… Read More ›
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Hugh Hanna and Hill End’s Commercial Hotel, 1872 – 1904
By MICK ROBERTS © AS gold slowly vanished from Hill End, in the central tablelands region of NSW, so did many of its pubs. Of the dozens of pubs that traded in Hill End during the early 1870s, the Commercial… Read More ›
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And then there were two… The last of Hill End’s 25 pubs
By MICK ROBERT © WHEN the doors of Weir’s Hotel closed for the last time in 1937, it left just one pub – the Royal – trading in the former gold mining town of Hill End. Hill End, which once… Read More ›
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Hobart’s Liverpool Street was ‘infested with prostitutes’ and pubs that were the ‘worst dens of infamy’
By MICK ROBERTS © COLONIAL Hobart was home to some of the most notorious pubs, not only in Tasmania, but all of Australia. With odd names, like the Pickwick Tavern, Labor in Vain, Good Woman, Lame Horse, Surely We Have… Read More ›
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Hobart’s hoteliers founded Australia’s first industry advocacy group
THE Australian Hotels Association (AHA) had its beginnings in Tasmania when a group of Hobart licensed victuallers, including ex-convict and host of the Tasmanian Inn, David Watson Bush, met to consider how best to promote and protect their businesses. The… Read More ›
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Melbourne’s Apollo Inn traded for over eight decades
By Mick Roberts © ALTHOUGH Melbourne’s Apollo Inn clearly displayed 1844 on its parapet, there seems to be a discrepancy in the pub’s establishment year. The Apollo Inn was rebuilt from a single-storey structure, containing four bedrooms and four sitting… Read More ›
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Darwin’s ravenous termites devoured 80 barrels of beer
BEFORE the days of steel kegs, Northern Territory publicans had an ongoing battle with termites attacking their timber beer barrels. With nests rising like skyscrapers to heights of three metres or more, there are some weird and wonderful stories told… 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