ALTHOUGH Helensburgh Tradies Club began trading on shaky grounds, and has relocated to a new site, it has survived to become the Illawarra’s oldest operating registered club. Born from a dispute with the town’s two publicans over beer prices, the Helensburgh and Lilyvale Workmen’s Club was established by a group of coal miners in 1896. Complying with requests from the village’s two hotel-keepers, the scheduled opening was under threat when two of the State’s largest brewers, Tooth and Company and Toohey’s Limited refused to supply the club with beer. William Hanley, host of the Centennial Hotel, was tied to the Tooth’s Brewery, while George Welch, host of the Paragon Hotel, was under lease to Toohey’s. A sympathetic brewery was most likely found through the efforts of another liquor dealer in Helensburgh at the time, David Craig.
Helensburgh and Lilyvale Workmen’s Club
By MICK ROBERTS ©
The club under construction
ALTHOUGH Helensburgh Tradies Club began trading on shaky grounds, and has relocated to a new site, it has survived to become the Illawarra’s oldest operating registered club.
Born from a dispute with the town’s two publicans over beer prices, the Helensburgh and Lilyvale Workmen’s Club was established by a group of coal miners in 1896.
Complying with requests from the village’s two hotel-keepers, the scheduled opening was under threat when two of the State’s largest brewers, Tooth and Company and Toohey’s Limited refused to supply the club with beer. William Hanley, host of the Centennial Hotel, was tied to the Tooth’s Brewery, while George Welch, host of the Paragon Hotel, was under lease to Toohey’s.
A sympathetic brewery was most likely found through the efforts of another liquor dealer in Helensburgh at the time, David Craig. He was a…
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