by Julie Stratford
for Brunswick Community History Group
To celebrate Victoria’s History Week in October, the Brunswick Community History Group conducted a “Virtual Pub Crawl” to celebrate Brunswick’s fabulous, historic and interesting old pubs on 27th October 2010. The event was well attended after information was listed on the Victorian History Week website and flyers were placed around Brunswick’s cafes and pubs. The back room at the pub that some of us still refer to as the Sarah Sands Hotel, (now Bridie O’Rielly’s) was filled with many laughs, lots of chatter, a few drinks and various stories of the weird and wonderful history of Brunswick’s public houses.
Sly grog sales, shootings, two-up games and coronial inquests all regularly took place in the Retreat Inn, The Union Hotel, The Cornish Arms, The Lomond, The Sporting Club and The Sarah Sands Hotel, to name a few. Using Laurie Cunningham’s book “ Brunswick’s Hotels” and a compilation of random newspaper clippings from The Argus, we heard about lottery winners, regular fines for Sunday trading, sleepwalkers falling off pub balconies, gangsters, cricketers, politicians, billiard tournaments and back lane betting.
“Brunswick’s Hotels” by Laurie Cunningham can be purchased from Brunswick Community History Group or the Brunswick Library.
