An unusual sight in Ingham , North Queensland .is this man mounted on a horse displayed on a building , with a nearby banner drawing attention to the fact that it is the original hotel which inspired Slim Dusty's famous song, The Pub With No Beer.
In the summer of l943 , the USA 22nd Bomb Group , known as The Red Raiders, travelling in convoy , set out from Brisbane for Townsville , their eventual destination Port Moresby , New Guinea, where they intended to fly Marauder aircraft against the enemy.
On the way to Townsville the convoy averaged 50 miles per hour (80km). Leaving Townsville for Ingham , they expected to be there in about one and a half hours.
However, it is said they were not aware of the about 70 rivers and creek crossings ,only two bridges, and it was the wet season . It took them 14 hours to fight their way through the mud and terrible road conditions to what was then called the Day Dawn Hotel , Ingham , now known as Lee's.
The story goes the exhausted and thirsty Americans arrived at 2am , woke up the publican , drank the pub dry .
The next morning, a local resident, Dan Sheahan , an Irish poet, that's him up there on the horse, rode 20 miles to the pub , found it had been drained by the Americans. He was forced to drink a glass of warm wine , penned a poem, A Pub Without Beer ,destined to become famous. -
Singer composer Gordon Parsons wrote a version of the poem in 1954 for a 50th birthday party in a pub near Windsor , NSW.
Later , Parson's adapted Sheahan's poem and wrote The Pub With No Beer for country singer Slim Dusty which was released in l957. It became the first Australian single to become gold , a big hit in the UK , Canada , USA and elsewhere .
