Showcase Saloons
Pubs can be the best kind of museums. Lobster claws, false teeth, big fish, offbeat photos – you’ll never guess what the next watering hole will deliver.
In Marrawah, on Tasmania’s west coast, the local is festooned in tiger snake skins. Near Mount Beauty, in Victoria, the Bogong Hotel boasts the country’s longest gum leaves, with the whopper measuring more than 70cms.
South of Cooktown (Q), the Lion’s Den of Helenvale owns a stuffed giraffe, while the Palace Hotel in Kalgoorlie (WA) has a 4m mirror in the foyer, a gift to a former barmaid from a lovestruck US President-to-be, Herbert Hoover.
The Renner Springs boozer in the Top End has a blue beret from the peace-keeping forces of East Timor – and 399 other hats – tacked to the ceiling.
Near Mount Gambier (SA), the drinkers of Tantanoola congregate around a stuffed Siberian wolf – the so-called Tantanoola Tiger. (Read the book for the whole story.)
In Hotel Kempsey, on the main drag of that town, a tippler can immerse himself in a medley of historical fishing reels and possibly the largest private collection of carpentry planes.
So don’t be shy. Let’s get a public list of pub-museums going. The stranger the better. Dob in your local, or far from local, for their wonders on the wall. The discerning drinkers of the world need to know.
August 31st, 2005 at 5:20 pm
I think I’ve been in some pubs so long they considered making me into an exhibit, but don’t know of too many pub museums. In Yorketown they have a bar shaped like a giant Y that is tough to serve at, because you run a mile before you pour a drink.