Lees Hotel

Last updated
Lees Hotel, Ingham, is recognised as the official Pub With No Beer, made famous by Slim Dusty's song. Lees Hotel Ingham.jpg
Lees Hotel, Ingham, is recognised as the official Pub With No Beer, made famous by Slim Dusty's song.
A Queensland Government commemorative plaque was erected at Lees Hotel in 1986. Lees Hotel Commemorative plaque.jpg
A Queensland Government commemorative plaque was erected at Lees Hotel in 1986.

Lees Hotel in Ingham, Queensland, a Queensland icon, is recognised as the official Pub with No Beer made famous by Slim Dusty’s song A Pub with No Beer . [1] [2] [3] The 1957 song, which became Australia’s first international hit, was based on the poem A Pub Without Beer written by Ingham sugarcane farmer and poet Dan Sheahan in the Day Dawn Hotel, now known as Lees Hotel, in Ingham in 1943. [4] [5] [6]

Ingham, Queensland Town in Queensland, Australia

Ingham is a town and locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, North Queensland, Australia. It is the administrative centre for the Shire of Hinchinbrook.

Slim Dusty Australian country music singer

Slim Dusty, AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and numerous recordings. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australia, particularly of bush life and renowned Australian bush poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson that represented the lifestyle. The music genre was coined the "bush ballad", a style first made popular by Buddy Williams, the first artist to perform the genre in Australia, and also for his many trucking songs.

A Pub with No Beer single

"A Pub with No Beer" is the title of a humorous country song made famous by country singers Slim Dusty and Bobbejaan Schoepen.

Contents

History

In December 1943, American servicemen from the 22nd Bomb Group passed through Ingham en route to Port Moresby, stopped at the Day Dawn Hotel overnight and drank all the beer. The following day Dan Sheahan rode his horse 30 kilometres to the hotel only to learn there was no beer. He had a glass of wine instead, sat in the pub and wrote the poem. [2] [3] [6] [7] [8]

Port Moresby Place in National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea and the largest city in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.

The poem was published in The North Queensland Register in early 1944 and was rewritten in 1956 by Gordon Parsons, who set it to music for Slim Dusty. Parsons said he did not know where the original poem came from, but when Slim Dusty visited Ingham, he met Dan Sheahan and was shown the original poem, which Slim acknowledged as being the origin of the song. [9] [10] Dan Sheahan didn’t want any royalties for the song, only recognition. He went on to write three other songs for Slim. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Gordon Parsons was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, best known as the composer of Slim Dusty's 1957 hit song "A Pub With No Beer". In 1982, Parsons was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown.

The Day Dawn Hotel replaced the Telegraph Hotel, which was built on the site in the late 1800s. Lees Hotel replaced the Day Dawn Hotel in 1960. [2] [7]

Recognition

Controversy surrounded the identity of the hotel when a pub in New South Wales claimed to be the original pub where the song was created, but in his autobiography Walk a Country Mile, Slim Dusty confirmed the song was created in the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham. [11] [13]

New South Wales State of Australia

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In September 2018, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

In 1986, The Australian Bicentennial Heritage and Environment Program gave recognition to Lees Hotel as the official Pub with No Beer and acknowledged Dan Sheahan as the author of the poem. A Queensland Government committee visited Ingham and erected a plaque of recognition outside Lees Hotel. [14] [15]

Queensland North-east state of Australia

Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).

Festival

A Pub with No Beer Festival was held in April 2013 at Lees to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the event. [15] [16]

2012 refurbishment

Lees Hotel underwent a million-dollar refurbishment in 2012 and now includes artifacts, photographic history and memorabilia of Ingham’s early days as well as a tribute to Dan Sheahan and Slim Dusty. [4] [15]

Related Research Articles

Tooheys Brewery

Tooheys is a brewery in the suburb of Lidcombe, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It produces beers and ciders under the Tooheys and Hahn Brewery trademarks, and is part of the Lion beverages group which was acquired by the Japanese Kirin Company in 2009.

Slim Dusty has released 118 records in his career. He has sold more than seven million records and earned over 70 gold and platinum album certifications.

Taylors Arm, New South Wales Town in New South Wales, Australia

Taylors Arm is a village in Nambucca Shire in New South Wales, Australia.

Camooweal Town in Queensland, Australia

Camooweal is a small town and locality in the City of Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia. At the 2011 census, Camooweal had a population of 187.

Greenvale, Queensland Town in Queensland, Australia

Greenvale is a nickel mining settlement in Queensland, Australia, approximately 220 kilometres (137 mi) northwest of Townsville. Other metal ores are also extracted there. It is located within the Charters Towers Region.

Australian country music

Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodeling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, the Australian bush ballad tradition, as well as by popular American country music. Themes include: outback life, the lives of stockmen, truckers and outlaws, songs of romance and of political protest; and songs about the "beauty and the terror" of the Australian bush. Early pioneers included Tex Morton, Smoky Dawson, Buddy Williams, Slim Dusty and Johnny Ashcroft all members of the Australian Roll of Renown.

Chad Morgan Australian musician

Chadwick William "Chad" Morgan OAM is an Australian country music singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording, he is known as "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek".

Lee Kernaghan Australian country music singer-songwriter

Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist.

The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited (RACQ) is a motoring club and mutual organisation, providing roadside assistance, insurance, travel, finance and other services to its Queensland members. It is a member of the Australian Automobile Association.

Bush ballad Music genre of Australia

The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of action and adventure, and uses language that is colourful, colloquial and idiomatically Australian. Bush ballads range in tone from humorous to melancholic, and many explore themes of Australian folklore, including bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Graeme Connors is an Australian country music singer, songwriter, and performer. He is best known for the hits A Little Further North and Let The Canefields Burn. Throughout his music career Graeme has released over fourteen albums and to date has received fourteen Golden Guitar awards among other prestige Australian country music awards. He wrote the lyrics for the Paralympic Anthem. Most recently, he was awarded Album of the Year at the 2011 Tamworth Country Music Festival for Still Walking.

Joy McKean OAM, born 14 January 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading songwriters and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular songs. In 1983, McKean was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown.

"Lights on the Hill" is an Australian country music hit song written by Joy McKean and made famous by her husband, Slim Dusty. It won the first Golden Guitar in January 1973 at the Country Music Awards of Australia, held in Tamworth. It has been covered by Keith Urban and Mental as Anything.

Stan Coster Australian singer

Stan Coster OAM was an Australian country music singer-songwriter. His songs were regularly performed by Slim Dusty and other singers. He is the father of country music singer Tracy Coster.

Victory Hotel

The Victory Hotel is a historic pub located on the corner of Edward and Charlotte Streets in the Brisbane central business district, Queensland, Australia. It is listed on the Brisbane Heritage Register.

Duncan (Slim Dusty song) 1980 song performed by Slim Dusty

"Duncan" is an Australian single recorded in 1980 by Slim Dusty which reached No. 1 on the Kent Music Report charts for two weeks in early 1981. The song was Dusty's second-most successful single after "A Pub with No Beer". It is also known as "Beer with Duncan", "Have a Beer with Duncan" and "I Love to Have a Beer with Duncan". It was written by Pat Alexander.

References

  1. ↑ National Trust, Queensland Icons, The Pub with No Beer, Page 7
  2. 1 2 3 ABC, The pub with no beer, Jan 15, 2009, by Winsome Denyer, http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/01/21/2467012.htm
  3. 1 2 Dan Sheahan, bush balladist (the pub without beer), by Irene Maskell, 1988, ASIN B0007C4714
  4. 1 2 The Cairns Post, Fresh look for icon, Nov 14, 2012, page 30, by Nick Dalton
  5. ↑ John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, Lees Hotel in Ingham, Queensland, Aug 4, 2013, by Sarah Scragg, http://bishop.slq.qld.gov.au/view/action/singleViewer.do?dvs=1419911142632~891&locale=en_US&metadata_object_ratio=14&show_metadata=true&VIEWER_URL=/view/action/singleViewer.do?&DELIVERY_RULE_ID=10&frameId=1&usePid1=true&usePid2=true
  6. 1 2 RACQ, Bring back the Queensland Road Trip, page 3, http://tourism.racq.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/54199/Townsville-to-Ingham.pdf
  7. 1 2 Voices of the North, Ingham’s history comes alive, by Tanya Snelling, page 9
  8. ↑ ABC, Apr 22, 2013, 70 years since the pub ran dry, by Nathalie Fernbach, http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/04/22/3742378.htm?site=northqld
  9. 1 2 Australian Screen, National Film and Sound Archive, Slim’s visit to Ingham, by Paul Byrnes, http://aso.gov.au/titles/music/a-pub-with-no-beer/notes/
  10. 1 2 Slim: Another Day Another Town, by Slim Dusty, ISBN   9780733633423, https://books.google.com.au/books?id=tJBuBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1865&lpg=PA1865&dq=Dan+Sheahan+pub+with+no+beer&source=bl&ots=pRPIsKiInr&sig=br4XjcT7EZvPI3TTzfbBKeqrO4A&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-D-iVNK_IMHDmQXi8YHYBQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=Dan%20Sheahan%20pub%20with%20&f=false
  11. 1 2 News.com.au, Nov 27, 2007, Slim poured a legend, http://www.news.com.au/news/slim-poured-a-legend/story-fna7dq6e-1111114967360
  12. ↑ The Age, Melbourne, Sept 21, 2003, Slim Dusty: The boy who lived his dream, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/21/1063625259334.html
  13. ↑ , The pub with no beer, Jan 15, 2009, by Winsome Denyer, http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/01/21/2467012.htm
  14. ↑ Herbert River Express, April 19, 1986 Official recognition at last for Dan Sheahan, his poem – and for the old Day Dawn Hotel!
  15. 1 2 3 Townsville North Queensland, Lees Hotel The Original Pub With No Beer, http://www.townsvillenorthqueensland.com.au/where-to-stay/lees-hotel-the-original-pub-with-no-beer-9157991
  16. ↑ The Cairns Post, Festival re-enactment plan will bring pub with no beer back to life, March 14, 2013, page 9, by Nick Dalton

Coordinates: 18°39′00″S146°09′16″E / 18.6501°S 146.1545°E / -18.6501; 146.1545

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.