The Commercial Hotel Aberdeen on the New England Highway began as the early Aberdeen Inn, constructed in 1837–1838 with hand-made bricks fired in a local kiln. Officially opened in April 1839 with Ralph George Martin as its first licensee, it… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © I’VE been researching pubs for almost 40 years, and am amazed at how sometimes the simplest detail can slip you by! This is a story about the Bulli Family Hotel in the Illawarra region of NSW,… Read More ›
TO understand the timber and iron of the Red Beret Hotel in Redlynch, one must first understand the iron and grit of the men and women who carved Far North Queensland out of the rainforest. The hotel’s story does not… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © Long before it became the bustling, beer-soaked corner of Irish Murphy’s, the intersection of Elizabeth and George Streets was born from grit, survival, and a widow’s desperate gamble. Armed with nothing but an empty property and… Read More ›
By MICK ROBERTS © ALL within a short walk from Sydney Harbour’s docks, during the 19th century, once traded four pubs known as the Whalers Arms. Rubbing shoulders in the cramped, crowded bars and taprooms of the inns and public… Read More ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›