“Our family has had a history of hotels. I was born in Lidcombe. My grandparents had the Royal Oak Hotel in Lidcombe, at the railway. Even dad’s sister had a hotel in Queanbeyan.

“Dad come down to the hotel in 1935 and in 1942 he put a manager in and bought a farm up at Campbelltown. He chased me down to the pub in 1950 and I worked under a manager. Dad came back in ’52 and my mother took over when he died in ’58. I worked for my mother until she died in 1968. I was the publican from 1970 until 1990.

“My boy started pulling beer but he didn’t like it at all. He reckoned he was nice to people but they were angry at him half the time. He couldn’t understand how he could be nice and they could be angry. He is one of them fellas who has a good personality. Well, he joined the fire brigade, he’s a fireman.”

– Steve Guinery, 13 July 2017, Publican at The Port Kembla Hotel (Guinery’s) from 1970 – 1990. Pub was managed by the Guinery family for more than 50 years (1935 – 1990).

Photo of Steve Guinery outside Port Kembla Hotel in 2017, by Nina Kourea