A ghost story helped the Mt Kembla Village Hotel make the cut for a book about the historic pubs of NSW.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Legend has it, the cellar of the pub is haunted by the ghost of Michael Brennan – his was the only body not recovered after the 1902 Mt Kembla mining disaster.
Licencee Daine Blackburn said he’s yet to experience the ghost first-hand.
“But there have been other people who have run the hotel before who have seen him or witnessed things that they’ve put down to Mickey Brennan,” he said.
A “talking point” like a ghost was part of the reason the hotel appeared in the new book Historic Pubs NSW.
Co-writer and photographer Simon Punch said a lot work went into finding the 25 pubs that feature in the book.
“We did a few big road trips and literally went to every pub,” Mr Punch said.
“Overall we probably would have gone to a couple of hundred. I went to at least 100 myself.”
As well as the ghost and the history he said the Mt Kembla venue was “a nice timber-clad hotel”.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
