The claim
Older than Canberra itself, this timber slab building began as Joseph Schumack's hut in 1857 and was licensed as a wayside inn on the Yass-Queanbeyan road in 1876. After nearly a century as a family home it was restored and reopened in the 1970s. Today it's the capital's cosy heritage pub, with ten taps of independent Australian craft beer.
What the records show
The 1857 is the date the travel press and Wikipedia give for the slab hut Joseph Shumack built, not for an inn: Australian Traveller has it beginning as a home for Irish immigrants in 1857 and becoming a coach stop serving beer and food by 1876, which is when it was licensed. It then passed to the Read family as a private home, The Pines, from 1887 until the Commonwealth bought it in 1974 and restored it as an inn, so pub use is far from continuous. The licence of 1876 has a document behind it, and Wikipedia is where the reference is printed: it cites the New South Wales Government Gazette of 6 June 1876, page 2186, for Shumack converting his residence to the Canberra Inn and obtaining a liquor licence. Read again on 10 October 2026, Australian Traveller's own account gives 1876 only as the year the house became a mail and passenger coach stop on the Yass to Queanbeyan run and says nothing about a licence, so the gazette is the better authority for the trade and is the one credited here.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1857 | Claimed founding | The press |
| c.1857 | Present building | Building fabric |
| 1876 | First record of a drinking house here | Wikipedia, citing the New South Wales Gazette of 6 June 1876 |
What to look for inside
- Predates the founding of Canberra
- Coach stop on the Yass-Queanbeyan road
- Private home 'The Pines' 1887-1974
- Ten taps of independent Australian craft beer
Visiting
Old Canberra Inn is in Canberra, Australia, at 195 Mouat Street, Lyneham ACT 2602. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Canberra_Inn
- www.australiantraveller.com/australia/oldest-pubs-in-australia/
- www.oldcanberrainn.com.au/
- canberrabluessociety.com.au/Gig-Guide
Then and now
Photographed about 1910, and today. The inn in 1910, when it was called The Pines.
Photo: Unknown photographer (National Library of Australia) · public domainKnow something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
Run this pub? There is a badge for it
Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
