Rockers Day 2011

PUBMobilia - 3

Not all the Tooth's mirrors were reinforced by lifestyle and industry. Some just told it plain and simple - Sadly, the ever popular 'Dirty Annie' is no longer popular.






Two alternative Tooheys mirrors inside a Glen Innes hotel . . . "Here's to'ee!"



Melbourne Bitter - made in Victoria and stoically Victorian in design.


Trundle Hotel near Parkes, west NSW. Fosters and VB stickers compete with the full-mirrored defunct Tooth's product - and lose. It's Tooth's you feel like asking for at the bar.




Two Tooheys' posters blithely apply Koori motifs - both would compliment the similarly inappropriate velvet cushions and garden statues of 40-50s Australia.



All beer's good!

PUBMobilia - 2

The Excelsior Hotel - Foveaux Street, Surry Hills.


The Alexandria Hotel - Henderson Road, Alexandria. The 'Parramatta' graffiti probably refers to the rugby league Parramatta 'Eels' who were formidable in the 1980s.


The Earlwood Hotel - Homer Street, Earlwood . . . it seems Earlwood favoured Canterbury Bankstown's 'Berries' to the St George 'Dragons' and watching water-sports on BnW television.




Hamilton, Newcastle.



Wingham (near Taree) - cunningly placed door-side mirrors grabbed your attention as you walked in and your thirst was driest . . . this hotel has since burnt down.



Grafton mirrors . . . Right hand tennis mirror shows the damage in just a few years as the painted cellulose deteriorates.




The Murwullimbah Hotel, Murwullimbah. Cut that cane . . .


Glen Innes mirrors . . . Rugby league mirror depicts England playing Australia.




Shattered bar mirror - it seems genteel, equestrian sports aren't to everyone's liking.

PUBMobilia - 1

Amid the take-over of NSW breweries in the 80s, by people like Alan Bond, a lot of bar mirrors commissioned by the Kent Brewery were taken down from hotels and lost to the public. These were all individually painted on cellulose and transferred onto glass with each mirror generally depicting surrounding industry or lifestyle - something that seems to be lost on the reprinted posters that are currently showing up on hotels around Sydney today.

I photographed these 'artworks' at that time because they were disappearing (either seen as anachronisms or simply due to wear and tear) only to be replaced with unimaginative, generic posters. It was especially maddening to enter a town and see the dusty rectangles where mirrors had recently been removed and only imagine what romanticised, local theme had been lost. Even a damaged 'bar-mirror' says more than a Fosters Lager poster . . .

The Linga Longa Inn - Situated between Scone and the Barrington Tops, the Linga Longa was catering to a primarily, rural area.





The Nambucca Hotel in Macksville - These mirrors were in perfect order but were subsequently broken when thieves tried to steal them in the 90's.





The Star Hotel, Macksville - Facing the Nambucca River and eastward the sun took it's toll on these bar mirrors, completely disintegrating the banana harvesting mirror which was only recognisable thanks to a faint image left on the glass. In contrast, the Nambucca Hotel mirrors were protected by the pub's verandah but not from theft.



Union Hotel - King Street Newtown. As part of the mirror reflecting local interest and culture, the footy illustration shows arch rivals South Sydney 'Rabbitohs' playing the local Newtown 'Blue Bags'.