Owner of country hotel raised the bar for publicans

GLORIA FRY, 1914-2013

	Devoted racegoer: Gloria Fry.

Gloria Fry was one of Australia's longest-serving female publicans. She co-owned Bendigo's Boundary Hotel with her husband, Clarrie Cooney, from 1952 until his death in 1959, then was sole licensee until her retirement in 2001.

In her final year at the Boundary, Fry was approaching 87 and had clocked up 62 years in the hotel trade.

Gloria Constance Annois was born in South Melbourne on March 15, 1914, one of two children to William Annois, who worked for W. D. & H. O. Wills, and his wife, Elsie, a teacher. She was christened at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, and was an Anglican until 1960, when she converted to Catholicism.

She won a scholarship to Methodist Ladies' College in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, and matriculated in 1930. Then, back at home, she was, at various times, president of the local branch of the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship, the National Council of Women, the Red Cross, the Australian Hotels Association women's auxiliary, the Midweek Tennis Association and the Eaglehawk Women's Golf Club.

Her first job was in 1931, in the accounts section at a stationers. Meanwhile, the Depression was biting. She attended rallies, reported the speeches for the Footscray paper and taught unemployed people typing.

She met Clarrie Cooney, a barman, during a trip to the Bendigo races in 1936. They married the following year and settled at the Boundary. The 6pm closing time, introduced as a wartime measure in 1916, made things difficult and there were frequent police raids.

Telephone exchange staff and other publicans would phone to warn of raids. Cooney also conducted sly-grog sessions on Sundays and Gloria always had the dining room table set, as the law allowed drinks to be served to bona fide travellers on Sundays. When the police arrived, the soup plates were wet and the drinkers would sit around the table.

With Cooney's death in 1959, Gloria became sole licensee. She married Arthur Fry in 1966 and moved into a new home, her first break from pubs in nearly 30 years.

Leasing out the hotel, she and Arthur travelled extensively, then, two years after his death in 1973, she returned to the Boundary.

Fry was always an avid racegoer. She saw Phar Lap win the 1930 Melbourne Cup and was at Flemington the day Jean Shrimpton shocked Melbourne with her short dress.

Fry played tennis into her 50s, took up golf in her 70s, liked cricket and was a passionate St Kilda Football Club member. She also played the piano very well.

Fry was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 and appeared in Clare Wright's book Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia's Female Publicans (2003).

Gloria Fry is survived by her children, Mary, Clare, Peter, Elaine, Anne and David, 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 2013