BOMADERRY’S Bun McKinnon thinks he has correctly identified all the drinkers in our Bridge Hotel line-up photo, supplied to us by Russell (Dick) Hall of Nowra.
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Dick, whose family ran the hotel in partnership with Mrs Annie Hardiman, thinks the photo was taken about 1938.
Dick’s parents purchased the hotel in 1937 and ran it for the following 20 years.
He told the Register he thought the photo was typical of the “six o’clock swill” era, when working men downed a few rapid drinks before 6pm closing.
Ian Morison, whose father-in-law, Arthur Perry, is in the photo, thinks it may have been taken later, in the early 1940s.
Bun says he is willing to stand corrected by readers, but believes he knows most of the men.
Not old enough to drink himself at the time the photo was taken, Bun was working as a young labourer for Dick Hall’s father.
Later, when he turned 18, he would often share a drink with the group of Bridge Hotel regulars.
In fact, one of Bun’s drinking exploits has become part of Nowra legend.
On New Year’s Eve in 1960, Bun rode his horse into the bar of four licensed premises in Nowra.
“They held a mardi gras in Nowra, and there was a crowd of 17,000 people in Stewart Place,” Bun remembers.
“There was a big procession, and my daughter Patty was the mardi gras queen.
“I rode my horse into the Prince of Wales, the Bridge and the Empire [now the Australian] and every one of the barmen gave me a drink,” he said.
“But when I got to the Ex-servos they called the cops. I spent the last hour of 1960 out and the first hour of 1961 in jail. I was fined £6.”
Give the Register a call on 4421 9123 if you have any further information on the photo.
