Find tools and resources to help you research pubs and hotels in Victoria. Includes information on the history of Victorian liquor licensing laws.
Pubs and hotels are not just drinking holes - many double as much-loved venues for our local live music scenes. Nowhere is this more evident than in Melbourne, which was found by the 2017 Melbourne Live Music Census to have 'more live music venues per capita than any other city in the world'. (ABC News)
Since then, the combination of COVID lockdowns and crippling rises in rent and public liability insurance have meant that many venues are being forced to close their doors, but their legacy lives on at the Library!
Live Music in the Salon area of The Provincial Hotel, Brunswick St., Fitzroy, Melbourne; H2011.150/1580
Information about a hotel's life as a live music scene (and the acts who have performed therein) is spread across a range of different collections at the Library. Here are some of the places to look...
Traditionally, fans, performers and venue operators in Victoria have relied on the free listings in weekly trade magazines such as Beat magazine and In Press to source and promote their gig information. These magazines provide valuable insights into the operation of smaller venues across Victoria, and read like a 'who's who' of the local performing arts scenes.
You can find historical performance listings in the following periodicals. A couple of them (Beat, Rhythms) are still ongoing:
Go-Set editor, Phillip Frazer, with Jean Bedford, Jon Hawkes, David Elfick, Ian Meldrum and Wendy Saddington, Drummond Street, Carlton; 1969; H2019.280/9. This photo is in copyright and is used with permission
Some venues have taken it upon themselves to produce their own in-house periodicals over the years. These are typically unique and rich with information about a hotel's history as a live performance venue. Examples include magazines created by Richmond's Corner and Punters Club hotels.
To find pictures of live music at pubs in the Library, enter the name of the hotel and/or music act you are searching for in the Library catalogue, and then select 'Pictures' from the dropdown box on the right.
For example, to search for pictures of the band Skyhooks playing at the Station Hotel:
Tip: the inverted commas (") will search for station hotel as a phrase, rather than each word individually.
Ephemera from live performances at Victorian hotels is spread diffusely across a range different collections at the Library, and consists overwhelmingly of advertisements for music performances. It can be surprisingly tricky to find.
For a brief overview, search the Library catalogue for the keywords: rock music ephemera.
Pictures
There is a small collection of handbills advertising bands at Melbourne venues in the Library's Pictures Collection. The collection includes flyers from iconic music venues The Club, Seaview Ballroom, Prince of Wales and the Corner Hotel as well as other lesser known hotels.
The Library also holds over 400 posters advertising Melbourne rock, punk, metal, indie bands that were collected over several years from the stairwell leading to the former Missing Link Records store in Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Theatre programmes
Handbills can also be found in the Library's Theatre Programmes Collection. To find these files enter the keywords: theatre programme rock music in the Library catalogue Files contain handbills etc.for local bands, multiple performer concerts and general rock venues. Years covered are from 1980 to 2010, with some also to be found from 2018.
Books
Lisa Radford's book Hi God people: Melbourne music flyers from the late 70s to last week contains a collection of flyers from performance at Melbourne hotels.
[Musicians on stage] Rennie Ellis [198-] H2012.140/2507
There is a wealth of academic literature on live music as a cultural phenomenon. This writing covers such topics as music history, the economic impacts of having an active live music scene, policy and politics and the social and cultural impacts on societies, cities and towns. You can find this writing as whole books, book chapters or as articles.
In order to search for articles, you can use the A-Z Databases and browse by subject or dive into a specific database. For more on using databases see our Help pages here.
You can also search for articles from the main search bar. Searching this way will turn up every article we have catalogued on your topic. To do this, type your search term into the search bar and, using the drop-down menu to the left of the bar, choose 'Articles and more'.
You can then refine your search by choosing only peer-reviewed articles or book chapters which will give you academic writing. Limiting to newsletters and magazine articles will give you information current to the time of writing and can be a good way to chart the trajectory of a movement or artist. Of course you can also focus your results using the subject headings, journal titles or by changing the date range. These options or facets can be found on the right side of the screen, next to your search results.
The Tote Hotel, Collingwood, 2016. Photograph by Zo Damage; H2022.177/1-560. (This work is in copyright and is a recent aquisition. Please note that it not yet available for viewing)
Music, protests and sticky carpet; join librarian Caitlyn Grant in her blog: 40+ years of the Tote, as she looks back on the long history of live music at this iconic Melbourne pub.
The Library has numerous books about the music scene in Melbourne, many of which mention specific hotels.
Highlights from the collection include:
Skyhooks, Station Hotel, 1977. Photo by Rennie Ellis; H2011.2/4457
Zines are independently produced titles that are often created without profit as a motive, in defiance of established publishing practices.
The Library has numerous zines which document the local live music scene, including a series created by the iconic Tote Hotel and another by the Punter's Club, which sadly closed its doors in 2002, before re-opening in 2024 as the Punters Club Fitzroy.
Punters Club Hotel, Corner Of Brunswick And Rose Streets, Fitzroy. Photo by Phillip Rogers; H2009.52/220
Zines are precious, one-of-a-kind publications, which is why they are held in our Rare Books Collection. If you would like to view a zine, please contact our Ask a Librarian service to request it.
Doc: the life and times of Aussie rock legend Doc Neeson by Jon Bradshaw and Anne Souter (2021)
Pleasure and pain: my life by Chrissy Amphlett with Larry Writer (2005)
Execution days: the life and times of Spencer P. Jones by Patrick Emery (2021)
Paul Kelly : the man, the music and the life in between by Stuart Coupe (2020)
Stranded, the secret history of Australian independent music 1977 - 1991 by Clinton Walker (1996)
Who's who of Australian rock compiled by Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara and Paul McHenry (2002)
Up from down under : how Australian music changed the world by Jeff Apter (2013)
