Amazing Australian Pubs
The word "Pub" is used in Australia to
indicate a bar, also known as "the local". They are
often called "Hotel", the reason for this dates back
to the days that licenses only allowed pubs to provide alcohol
to traveling public, the presence of a few rooms ( who might never
be used) then gave some impression that the rules being followed.
All over Australia you can find some very interesting
and colorful pubs, some very old and with interesting histories,
this provides a great way to include some history on your travel
itinerary without actually having to spend time hanging around
in boring museums. While in other parts of the world drinking
establishments usually need to be in a town to provide a base
of customers this is not the case in Australia. If you do some
outback traveling you will come across pubs that can be hundreds
of kilometres from the nearest town or population. The expression
"build it and they will come" definitely applies here,
no matter where you will build a pub, people will materialize
to start drinking.
Queensland
Animal Bar in Karumba
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
The animal bar in Karumba can be a nice place for
a quiet drink on some days, but when the fishing trawlers hit town
andoverworked and cashed up fishermen stream ashore to let off some
steam then you will see why this bar is called "The Animal
Bar".
Australian Hotel in Boulia
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Boulia is a fairly remote stump, once you go past
the pub you'll get to this warning sign
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Burketown Pub
Burketown is a very remote community in the Gulf
of Carpenteria of about 200 residents. They regulary get cut off
in the wet season and sometimes make the news for running out
of grog, as they drink about a roadtrain per month here.
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Commercial Hotel in Clermont
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Cooktown Hotel
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
If you're visiting Cooktown the Cooktown Hotel is
the place to have a drink and spend a night in the rooms upstairs.
From the balcony you can see the kangaroos hopping through the
main street at night on their way to some nice green grass in
the park. If you came to Australia expecting kangaroos to hop
through the main streets everywhere and were so far disappointed
then this is the place.
Einasleigh Hotel
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
If you find yourself in North Queensland go and
check out this pub, it is about a 400km. drive inland from Cairns
in the middle of f*%#!ing nowhere, on the west side of the Atherton
Tablelands, unless the road has dramatically improved lately you
will need a four wheel drive. Like Pisa with its leaning tower
Einasleigh used to be famous for its leaning town hall, next door
to the pub. However one day when the locals were enjoying a few
beers after a long hot day of chasing cows and mining gold they
heard an almighty crash and when they went to investigate the
town hall had spontaneously fallen over! The pub survived as the
town hall had narrowly missed it which was lucky as the pub itself
was a bit old and maybe not so structurally sound either. A few
years later the pub was bought by, appropriately an antique dealer,
who set about slowly restoring it to its former glory. As Einasleigh
only has 40 residents it relies on the odd few tourists to pass
through in the dry season and the Savannahlander train that calls
in once a week. Just across the road there is a beautiful gorge
where you can swim safely as the only crocodiles here are the
freshwater ones. There might still be some real estate bargains
to be found here, last time I was there in 1999 a 1000m2 house
block in town with power and water was for sale for $500.-
Espanol Hotel
The pub with no beer! On our visit to Chillagoe,
a few hours west of Cairns, we spotted the sign "Historic
hotel on left" so ofcourse hit the brakes! We were very disappointed
to find an abandoned pub, with no publican, and even worse; no
beer!
Ettamogah Pub
Exchange Hotel in Muttaburra
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Goldfields Hotel in Forsayth
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Lions Den
The Lions Den Hotel in north Queensland
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation
The Lion's Den Hotel is situated on the coastal
road from Cairns to Cooktown, about four km. south of where the
coast road joins the inland road. You simply can not drive past
this one, a stop here is an absolute must to admire the collection
of memorabilia and ofcourse to have a cold beer to wash down the
dust inhaled on the road. It has been known to happen that one
beer led to another, and another, and a few more. Not to worry,
they also have some safari tent style accommodation here nestled
between the trees if you do get stuck here. More
photos of this pub...
Mount Carbine Hotel
Mount Carbine Hotel
(Click to enlarge)
Mount Carbine is one of those middle of nowhere
places on the inland road from Cairns
to Cooktown in north Queensland,
and if you're traveling along this long hot road you just have
to stop for a beer at this pub and admire the collection of funny
signs and artwork. More
photos of this pub...
Post Office Hotel in Chillagoe
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
Purple Pub
Situated in Normanton, western Queensland, on the
Gulf of Carpenteria. Very famous and a visit to Normanton would
not be complete without a beer in this pub.
Railway Hotel in Ravenswood
Photo by David Guy
Tully Falls Hotel
The Tully Falls Hotel, in the town of Ravenshoe
in the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns, is Queensland's highest
pub, at an elevation of 916 metres.
Walkabout Creek Hotel
In the tiny outback town of McKinlay, located 104
km south east of Cloncurry you will find the famous Crocodile
Dundee pub where part of the movie was shot. It was sold for $290
000 after the movie had been made, renamed from the Federal McKinlay
Hotel to the Walkabout Creek Hotel and the current owners maintain
the rough and tumble feel of the original, promoting it as the
town's premier tourist attraction.
New South Wales
Birdsville
Photo by Alysse Gavlik
Victoria
Come on Victorians, send
us some pics of your pubs!
Northern Territory
Daly Waters
Publican Bruce keeps an eye on the fire during a cold winters day.
The Daly Waters pub is a little bit off the Stuart
Highway but well worth the short detour. The pub is filled with
memorabilia left behind by people from all over the world and is
a very pleasant place to rest from the long driving hours and enjoy
a few coldies and some food. There is a camping area attached to
the pub and just around the corner there is an airstrip, it does
not get much traffic nowadays but once it used to be an overnight
stop on the London-Sydney flights. More
info and pics of this pub....
Grove Hill
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
This pub near Pine Creek is well worth a visit but
it is not on the Stuart Highway and you need to make a bit of a
detour. It has been restored to its previous glory of the 1930s,
with added bonuses like electricity and hot running water.
Heartbreak Hotel
Located at Cape Crawford, the only cape in the world
over a 100 kms from the ocean. It sits in the middle of absolute
nowhere and is located a bit over 100km. from Borroloola, the nearest
town. Usually publicans are the ones that break up fights between
customers but on one of my visits to this pub in 1999 the publican
and his two sons belted the crap out of a miner that had been rooting
the publican's missus.
Larrimah
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
This pub in the town of Larrimah, Northern Territory,
about 700km. south of Darwin, was reportedly built in one weekend.
Larrimah that nowadays has only 16 residents was a bit livelier
in World War Two when many soldiers were based here. The pub used
to stand fifty kms away from its current location but as it was
hard to access in the wet season during flooding so the army swung
into action and moved the pub to a more convenient spot. It is a
good place to call in for a drink and admire the decorated walls
full of memorabilia, the Larrimah museum is acrosss the street.
Pictured in the photo are Rob Lapaer who submitted this pic and
story and now runs Rainforest
Hideaway B&B in Cape Tribulation, N.Qld and the pub's dog
and the publican in the background.
Nightcliff Hotel
Unfortunately no longer in operation, used to draw
in the hungover crowds on Sunday morning with the 'strip and prawn'
mornings, followed by a bit of mudwrestling, though when the mud
became boring substances were changed weekly like baked beans, pavlova
etc.
Also popular were the sunday morning gong shows, someone would get
on stage to do an act, sing, play music, whatever and the public
could show its level of appreciation by throwing their empty beercans
and bottles which were stopped by a large fishing net that was hung
in front of the stage. One day though some enterprising individual
picked up a rubbish bin and threw all the empties in one go, unfortunately
for the people on stage there was also quite a bit of pretty foul
liquid in the bottom of the bin that ofcourse went through the net
and showered the people on stage. The manager grabbed the microphone
and made the announcement that whoever the F#*!ing clown was that
F#*!ing did that he that better not F#*!ing do it again as then
by the time they would be F#*!ing finished with him he wouldn't
have any F#*! arms left to F#*!ing do that again.....
Stuart's Well Roadhouse
Stuart’s Well Roadhouse, also known as Jim’s Place,
is located about 100 km south of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway.
This pub is home to Dinky, the singing and piano playing dingo.
Whenever the piano is played at Jim's place, Dinkie jumps up on
the piano, plays some four pawed notes and howls along with the
tune.
Dinky in action
Tasmania
Come on Tasmaniacs, send
us some pics of your pubs!
Western Australia
This is about the only W.A. pub pic we have received
so far, and you hardly see it because it has a car in front of it!
Mind you, the guys in the pub do seem to be enjoying themselves....
Come on sandgropers, send
us some more pics of your pubs!
Coolgardie Hotel
The majestic style of the Coolgardie Hotel shows the
wealth created in the gold rush days.
Photo by Katrin Holmsten
South Australia
Maree Hotel
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
The large square building in the background is the
local pub in the town of Maree, a town of around 250 people about
650 km. north of Adelaide.
Photo by Alysse Gavlik
William Creek hotel
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
When you travel the backway from the Flinders Ranges
to Coober Pedy you come across the metropolis of William Creek which,
at the time this photo was taken, boasted a population of two people.
Lucky for the publican many tourists stop here for a drink too otherwise
his pub might have a hard time surviving. Visit
their website....
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
Canberra
Parliament House in Canberra
Although Parliament House is not officially a pub,
a hell of a lot of drinking goes on in there, and from time to time
the media treats us to entertaining reports of misbehaving politicians....
Come on Canberrans, send
us some more pics of your pubs!
You know of, (or own) an amazing Australian pub?
Then contact us!
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