Recent Posts - page 5
-
Publican unlucky in love: Wealthy hotelier murdered by cheating wife
By MICK ROBERTS © PUBLICAN Roy Ferguson could be said to have been unlucky in love. The wealthy hotelier had at least three failed relationships with women who would eventually betray him – one fatally. Roy was no saint. In… Read More ›
-
Berrima’s Surveyor General license lapsed in 1895: Title to Australia’s oldest ‘continuously licensed’ pub challenged
By MICK ROBERTS © THERE’S no doubt, Berrima’s Surveyor General Inn, on the NSW Southern Highlands, is one of Australia’s oldest trading pubs. Claims though that the pub is Australia’s oldest continuously licensed pub has come under a shadow with… Read More ›
-
Opening of Granville’s Vauxhall Inn was celebrated with ‘buckets of rum’
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN the first public railway in NSW was opened from Redfern to Parramatta in 1855, publican William Stone, to celebrate the occasion, advertised the sale of “buckets of rum for a penny”. Stone had recently opened… Read More ›
-
The sad demise of publican and courtesan the ‘Eulo Queen’
By MICK ROBERTS © AN attractive, wealthy woman in her youth, the desire of many of her customers, publican, Isabel Gray, in her twilight years lived a pitiful life in squalor, struggling to make ends meet and battling mental health… Read More ›
-
Queensland hotels of long ago
THE old pubs of Queensland were recalled by William Lees in an entertaining feature story published in ‘The Queenslander’ newspaper on September 5 1935. In his story, he tells of the shanties and inns of outback Queensland and the legendary… Read More ›
-
Historic Mount Garnet pub calls last drinks
By MICK ROBERTS © THE Mount Garnet Hotel, located 163km south-west of Cairns, has called last drinks. Sadly the historic pub – the town’s last – will close on October 29 2023. The Mount Garnet Hotel posted to its Facebook… Read More ›
-
Tragic tale of Edward killalea and his death at Wollongong’s Commercial Hotel
By MICK ROBERTS © WHEN an Illawarra civic leader died on the sofa of Wollongong’s Commercial Hotel in 1872 the news caused a sensation. Edward Killalea was elected to the Shellharbour Municipal Council just two years before his death in 1872… Read More ›
-
Mine’s a ‘Lady Blamey’: Beer served-up in cut-off beer bottles
By MICK ROBERTS © WALKING the mine-field of the various names of beer glass-sizes in Australia can be tricky – especially when you’re from inter-state. There’s the butcher, the handle, a pot, middy, and, of course, the schooner. While many… Read More ›
-
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 ›
-
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 ›
Featured Categories
Hobart hotels ›
-
Hobart’s Liverpool Street was ‘infested with prostitutes’ and pubs that were the ‘worst dens of infamy’
June 11, 2023
-
Hobart’s hoteliers founded Australia’s first industry advocacy group
June 7, 2023
-
Beer drums on trial
August 26, 2019
-
The pubs and brothels of Hobart’s Watchorn Street
June 17, 2019
-
Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart
August 17, 2017
-
Pugnacious publican
February 25, 2017
-
Early pubs of Hobart: The romance of Tasmania’s hostelries
June 11, 2016
-
Publican painter
May 4, 2015
Darwin hotels ›
-
Publican unlucky in love: Wealthy hotelier murdered by cheating wife
January 14, 2024
-
Darwin’s ravenous termites devoured 80 barrels of beer
May 20, 2023
-
Hotel Darwin
August 17, 2017
-
The 1948 crocodile encounter at Hotel Darwin
March 15, 2017
-
Darwin beer supply ‘white-anted’
March 9, 2017
-
The Vic survived three cyclones…
December 24, 2016
-
Darwin hotel explosion
October 19, 2016
Perth Hotels ›
-
Perth’s old and new Imperials
February 12, 2026
-
Road Trip: Pubs of Western Australia’s South-West and Wheatbelt Country
May 18, 2025
-
Bushrangers and desperadoes gathered at the Mahogany Creek inn
April 3, 2024
-
Policeman shot dead in bar of Perth’s Brisbane Hotel
August 1, 2020
-
Perth publican ‘Old Penn’ was a colourful character: A history of the Woodbridge Hotel
June 7, 2020
-
Three Western Australian publicans from the past
March 28, 2020
-
Zandra the pub nude made Chloe look like ‘an elderly spinster in a red flannel negligee’
March 9, 2020
-
Perth newspaper vendor, Jimmy could make beer run up hill
January 14, 2020
Melbourne Hotels ›
-
Marion ‘Bill’ Edwards was Australia’s first known transgender barman
October 10, 2024
-
Melbourne’s Apollo Inn traded for over eight decades
June 1, 2023
-
Olive’s three ‘petticoat pubs’ were run entirely by women
October 4, 2021
-
Melbourne’s historic Mitre Tavern has served-up beer for over 150 years
January 29, 2021
-
Carlton’s United States Hotel publican charged with murder after shooting dead an intruder
September 3, 2020
-
The flash bars of Melbourne’s Royal Mail Hotel
February 29, 2020
-
Melbourne hotelier, Jimmy Richardson
November 12, 2019
-
Naked woman takes a dip in pub’s water trough
August 18, 2019
Sydney hotels ›
-
Chamberlain Hotel: Tales of Folklore and Thieves in Sydney
August 18, 2026
-
History of The Whalers Arms Pubs in Sydney
April 25, 2026
-
History of Parramatta’s Oldest Pub: The Rose and Crown
April 14, 2026
-
Discover the Keighery Hotel: A Piece of Sydney’s History
April 8, 2026
-
Crown Hotel gas explosion killed Surry Hills’ newspaper vendor
January 14, 2026
-
The mystery of E. Wells: A HMAS Sydney survivor?
September 19, 2025
-
Opening of Granville’s Vauxhall Inn was celebrated with ‘buckets of rum’
December 1, 2023
-
Identity of man found dead at North Sydney hotel remains mystery almost 60 years later
August 2, 2023
Adelaide hotels ›
-
Fred Klauer, musician, digger, raconteur and publican
January 1, 2026
-
Adelaide pub drinkers’ response to plastic bib proposal – 1954
September 10, 2024
-
Early inns and taverns of Adelaide and South Australia
January 20, 2024
-
Mine’s a ‘Lady Blamey’: Beer served-up in cut-off beer bottles
September 15, 2023
-
Against all odds: Despite an abusive husband, hotelier Margaret Radestock became a successful business woman
February 17, 2023
-
How a thatched tavern in Adelaide’s south-west doubled as a church: The Brighton Metro Hotel
November 16, 2020
-
Adelaide’s last barmaid: When women were barred from behind the bar
December 31, 2019
-
Commercial Hotel is Port Adelaide’s oldest licensed pub
June 5, 2019
Brisbane hotels ›
-
The Tragic Tale of Brisbane Publican Ann Witham and the Dunmore Arms
May 22, 2026
-
Update on historic Brisbane landmark, the Lord Stanley Hotel and its $15m overhaul
November 28, 2024
-
The war years at Jack Ahern’s Hamilton Hotel
April 14, 2024
-
Queensland hotels of long ago
November 4, 2023
-
Wealthy Brisbane publican died penniless after she was hit by a tram
December 25, 2021
-
Blackbirder established the Queen’s Hotel on the Brisbane River wharves
December 5, 2021
-
Royal Hotel, Queen Street, Brisbane: 1862-1970
May 31, 2020
-
Drinkers join the Salvos in Christmas carols outside South Brisbane pub
December 24, 2019