By MICK ROBERTS © THE war-veteran who established Parramatta’s Rose and Crown in 1841, Robert “One-Armed” Green, was appropriately laid to rest near his pub in the graveyard of the All Saints Church. Next time you visit this historic pub… Read More ›
australianpubs
Discover the Keighery Hotel: A Piece of Sydney’s History
By MICK ROBERTS © Often mispronounced, there’s a pub in Sydney’s west with an unusual name. The Keighery Hotel in Auburn is named after one of Australia’s best-known racing identities of the first half of the 20th century. The Keighery… Read More ›
The ubiquitous pub bookie
MOSTLY out of pubs, Illegal SP (Starting Price) bookmakers operated for much of the 20th century, particularly from the 1930s until the introduction of the Totalizator Agency Board (TAB) in the 1960s. An SP Bookie (Starting Price Bookmaker) refers to a bookmaker who… Read More ›
Celebrating 100 Years of Khartoum Hotel in Hunter Valley
THERE’S a pub in the Hunter Valley of NSW preparing for a special milestone. A pub centenary is always an opportunity to celebrate, reflect and to look forward. And that’s exactly what the current custodians of the Khartoum Hotel at… Read More ›
Bulong’s Court Hotel: From bustling pub to abandoned ghost town
THE Court Hotel was a jerry-built corrugated iron pub established in what is now an abandoned gold mining town in Western Australia. Bulong was a bustling settlement located 580kms east of Perth in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. In… Read More ›
Perth’s old and new Imperials
The Imperial Hotel on Wellington Street, Perth (WA) was a prominent, multi-storey building first completed in 1898. Located opposite Perth’s central railway station, it was described in 1889 as a “handsome ornament” to the area during the Gold Boom era. The… Read More ›
The opening of Kalgoorlie’s iconic York Hotel
Built in 1900–1901 by John Crothers for proprietor Henry Edward Laslett, the York Hotel in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, is a historic landmark located on Hannan Street. Designed by architect Daniel T. Edmunds in the Federation Anglo-Dutch style, it remains a… Read More ›
The Bulli bullocky: Politics in the pub
By MICK ROBERTS © BREAKING that unwritten rule of never discussing politics and religion at the pub can have dire consequence. Some people learn the hard way: like, Bulli bullocky James Robinson. Robinson was a new arrival to the little… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›