From the very early days of settlement in Australia, the supply of beer and liquor was a part of daily life, be it legal or illegal. Enterprising entrepreneurs opened outlets from tents, then sheds and eventually from hotels which were built to accommodate travellers by ship or stagecoach. From a humble beginning, the pub evolved from the bars of these hotels, usually kept separate from the guests enjoying their stay in fine surroundings. Many of these hotels were built in the Victorian style with wide verandahs and fine wrought-ironwork and were quite a splendid sight to see. Many of these fine old buildings have been restored and saved from the wreckers hammer, some new buildings have kept the frontage and facade as a memory to those who worked so hard to establish the country in those early days.

This slab and bark shelter type abode, similar to this one, would have been used as one of the first places to sell spirits and beer in the early days of the first settlement in Australia. In the late 1800's the type of building had developed into a more sturdy construction. The Prince Albert Hotel above left, was built from existing records and plans, for the film depicting the life of 'Ben Hall' the famous bushranger in and around Victoria and New South Wales.

The British Arms Hotel in Kalgoorlie Western Australia built in the early 1800's is now a museum but shows the typical English style of the era. Above left is the more colonial style 'Caledonian Hotel' in Singleton NSW, it was first licensed as the Sir Thomas L. Mitchell Inn, in 1832. Its link to the past being, when Joe Governor a bushranger was shot and killed by police in October 1900 at Carrowbrook,  his body was laid out in this hotel.