Last night I had a dream, When I got to Perth,
I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat the Bundy Bear first,
For claiming to be King of the bush.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with platypus,
I’ve tussled with a dugong.
I can run through Tim Winton and not get wet.
When Boxing Kangaroo meets me,
He’ll pay his debt. Muhammad Ali.
I was sitting trolling through over 3000 photos trying to find my shot of the boxing kangaroo sign in Fremantle, when Shazza emailed me one. I had been trying to find the pic after the fake news stories that our brave lads and lasses had been asked to take down their giant version at the winter olympics. I haven’t put the kanga up before, because it was designed by a relative, and have been trying to avoid featuring said relative, despite his work covering most hard and soft surfaces in Perth and most of the packaging of liquor in the state. Fortunately the relative’s work is of a very high standard, but what about the boxing kangaroo, which I think he tossed off in 2 minutes while sitting on the bog? As a national symbol it’s certainly much better than our shitty national flag. The winter olympians should have gone with this version which includes the tinny of swan. (Which I think he designed too.) This pub is also a worst in several ways. I remember it being a craphole infested with sour faced skimpys and sourer faced blokes. Worst one. Then it was to be totally renovated. Worst two. Then kiddies got inside and burnt it. Worst three. 
The Worst of Perth 
It seems Paris Hilton has tagged her territory to include the roo.
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You’re always up so early Bob. Wait, no, you were still up.
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I’ve given up sleep. Damn waste of time. Just look at Patti. 100% productivity.
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Despite its relatively benign history, anything within cooee of Bondy is automatically worst by association, although the tinny does help, and I do get to post this old favourite again.
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that boxing kangaroo has always looked a little pissed off to me. like he’d be a right cunt.
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Having lived on a Southern property infested with these animals, I can assure you, shazz, that, in their natural state of being, they are nasty pieces of work when they feel that their dominance of the ‘harem’ is being challenged.
I heard several tales of blokes being approached aggressively by apparently short sighted ‘alpha male’ boomers.
A rather chilling thought considering the damage that they do to each other when fighting for herd dominance.
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Sorry, MP; that’s meant for you.
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thanks Rolly, confirms my suspicions.
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I’m a fan of the boxing kanga. It’s a great symbol.
Did the rellie design the Swan on the beer can too TLA?
BTW the pub looks like it might be due to open again soon.
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Much WA piss graphics sprouted from his Rotring.
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i’m thinking your use of the word “rotring” has made my day TLA. many thanks.
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its not just about the rotring
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And the redback beer logo, where the graphics cannot disguise what a horrible beer it is. If you have to suck it through a lemon, you got problems.
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Didn’t the paper refer to Mr Castledine’s several hours of work in creating the roo?
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Beat up. You know how it works.
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DFOC should be more like Brad.
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Not Worst. Takes me back to a less complicated era when we did not care what beer tastes like and if the barmaid was wearing boxing gloves you knew not to complain.
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I too like these reminders of less “knowing” times. We suffer too much now from an aesthetic plague of over-design.
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I’m with you guys. Clearly not worst. We need to keep letting the world know that we’ve got pissed off animals in abundance.
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I disagree, though I think this may be a ‘bygone worst’, something truly indicative of worstness past. To me the implicit menace of the macropid fists is genuinely frightening, and channeled thru Swan Lager – I daren’t imagine..
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That’s precisely what I like about it, as a sporting event flag. It’s like the aussie version of the haka in flag form.
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Oh I disagree.
The haka is like a kiwi version of the boxing kangaroo…
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touche!
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i thought the haka was a white bloke’s version of a maori war dance.
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No, the war dance is the Maori version of the white bloke’s Hokey Pokey.
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I think you’ll find it was The Hakabuck, Bento.
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So I take it this was shot before the great “draw a cock on everything” craze of 2009?
PS, this photo would be funnier if the kangaroo had a cock drawn on it. Am I right?
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Well obviously. Or a pouch that could have been worked into some giant flange.
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The image is familiar, but please remind me where this pub was/is.
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I remember now – corner of South Tce and High St. Was it called The Railway? A truly seedy place, but a welcome alternative sometimes to the likes of the Newport and Sail & Anchor.
Other intriguing drinking holes in Freo: The Orient Hotel (or whatever it’s called now), and the union pub/club in the south end, I think on Henry St – a true throwback to the glory days of the six o’clock swill, etc.
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It was the National Hotel, NF#1.
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…and I want to smack the little shit who tagged it… probably a friend of the little shit who burnt the hotel down
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TLA. I was told the other night that your relation, who designed the boxing kangaroo also had a hand in the design of your avatar. Is this true?
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I don’t think so. He did do Redback Beer though.
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