RAHS Home > RAHS Shop > Event Tickets > RAHS Special Lecture – Hotels and Growth in Regional Communities: A View from Kiama, NSW
A sepia photograph showing the Brighton Hotel in Kiama in 1910. An Australian flag flies above the hotel. Groups of families walk along a dirt road in the foreground.

RAHS Special Lecture – Hotels and Growth in Regional Communities: A View from Kiama, NSW

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 14 October 2026 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000 (hybrid)

Cost: Free

Event Description:

From the first regional venues licenced at the start of the nineteenth century to the present day, hotels have shaped local social life and character. Despite the puritanical attitudes of respectable locals, and strict licencing laws, Kiama was once a place of ‘besotted and shameless drunkards’. Moving beyond the usual stories of male settler drinkers, the presentation will also tell of the opportunities for women and Aboriginal people.

About the speakers:

Dr Tony Gilmour is Vice President of the Kiama Historical Society and a RAHS Councillor. He escaped from a business career in 2021 and is now a full-time writer. Tony’s recent book, Rascals and Respectables (2025), looked at the social history of a south coast community through the lens of the licenced trade. It required many research visits to local drinking haunts.

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