Celebrating region’s publicans: History reveals faces behind the bar
One couple have combined six years’ worth of work researching and exploring the history of Toowoomba pubs and publicans. Here’s all you need to know about the project.
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Elbow grease, patience and the ability to deliver the perfect pour are all necessary requirements when running a pub – a subject that carries a lot of history in Toowoomba.
Emeritus Professor Maurice French and his wife Judy Brewer dedicated six years to research, writing and designing a book which celebrates the region’s history of pubs.
Split into two volumes, the publication titled Bar and Boniface: A Compendium of Toowoomba’s Pubs and Publicans 1844-2020, is set to be released in the coming days.
“Toowoomba has some families with long histories in hotels – one of which is the Gentle family,” Professor French said.
“They started operating pubs here in the 1860s and were still operating them in the 1980s, after four generations from great-grandfather right through to great-grandson.”
Inspired by John Clements’ book Toowoomba’s Hotel History, the couple decided to revise and update it, but soon discovered there were so many more stories to be told.
The first volume showcases 220 of the region’s pubs from 1844 to 2020, while the second volume features 1600 publicans who have served in Toowoomba venues during the same time frame.
Despite pubs traditionally being a male-dominated environment, about 25% of publicans were women.
“It was a little bit surprising that of the 1600 publicans, around 400 of them were women,” Professor French said.
“Further research showed a lot were widows of publicans who had taken over the licence when their husbands passed away, but there were also a number of long-term female publicans.”
In fact, the couple’s findings revealed the region’s three longest serving publicans were women, with one who served patrons for more than five decades.
The co-authors said they are aware of three current female publicans in Toowoomba, two of which feature in their new book.
But, Ms Brewer said to date, there are many women who play significant roles in the day-to-day running of pubs.
Following its launch on Wednesday, June 29, the book will be available to purchase through the Toowoomba Historical Society.
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