"A Pub with No Beer" written in Ingham, north Queensland during WW2 after the Yanks drank the pub dry

"A PUB WITH NO BEER"
WRITTEN DURING WW2 IN INGHAM, NORTH QLD,
AFTER THE YANKS DRANK THE PUB DRY

The song made famous by the late Slim Dusty, was first written in the original Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham in north Queensland in 1943, by an Irish cane cutter Dan Sheahan, after some American soldiers drank the pub dry the previous night.

Dan Sheahan had gone to his favourite pub for a cold beer but was told by the Publican Gladys Harvey, that there was no beer left, due to a drinking binge by some coloured American soldiers the previous night. Dan Sheahan consoled himself in the corner of the pub with a glass of wine and wrote the song "A Pub without Beer". It was first published in the Townsville Daily Bulletin on Thursday 30 December 1943 and later published in the NQ Register in January 1944. The song was later transformed to "A Pub with No Beer" by composer Gordon Parsons, who had spotted the words of "A Pub without Beer" in "The North Queensland Register" newspaper.

Slim Dusty, would visit Dan Sheahan when he visited Ingham. Dan died in 1977, aged 95 years. Rupert Lee purchased the Day Dawn hotel in 1958 from Cummins and Campbell. Rupert engaged architect Ian Ferrier to design a new hotel for the site. The Day Dawn Hotel was then demolished and rebuilt as Lee's Hotel in 1960. It did not burn down as some people have suggested.

Unfortunately, the great Slim Dusty passed away on Friday 19 September 2003 aged 76 years.

The Mayor of Ingham in 2006, Pino Giandomenico, accused New South Wales of stealing Ingham's glory by claiming that Slim Dusty's immortal song "A Pub with No Beer" was based on the Taylors Arm Hotel in northern New South Wales.

Photo:- Des Wing April 2007