Such Was Life: Charlie and the Beer Factories

Charlie Webb ran a tiny pub in a small mining town and is immortalised in Henry Lawson’s poem, The Bulletin Hotel. Pubs, breweries and publicans flourished in the arid Goldfields at a time when beer was cheaper ( and much safer) to drink than water.   The pubs became the centre of social life in their communities. One hotel in Coolgardie boasted a large theatre that hosted touring drama companies and the first wedding in town was conducted in a hotel (the pub was built long before a church!). Beer was Big Business. Even the smallest mining town had a pub and almost all had a local brewery. As an essential part of life it also became the cause of The Great Beer Strike of 1903 when local publicans in one town tried to triple the price of beer.  Other communities also went on strike against price rises and the publicans were forced to back down. As one newspaper opined “we can only advise the [townspeople] to stand firm and suffer. Every cause has to be suffered for. And sixpenny beers is a cause for which a true patriot would suffer much.