THERE are about half a dozen Australian pubs or taverns called the Pig and Whistle, and Victoria has one of the oldest and most well known in Trentham.
The pub was established in about 1860 and set in farm land 5km east of the township, but why it was called the Pig and Whistle, no one seems to know.
English folklore throws up several explanations for the quaint name.
One is that a barrel of Guinness was known as "the pig" and the whistle was all about "wetting your whistle".
Another, of Scottish origin, was that "pigs and whistles" meant odds and ends and that to go to "pigs and whistles" was to fall into ruin.
The latter might have had more currency at East Trentham where the pub tempted many an itinerant spud digger into ruin.
The hotel was established by Maurice O'Connell, an emigrant from Ireland's Kerry county.
Local farmer and great grandson of Maurice, Bill O'Connell, believes the early pub was a merger of two pubs, one of which was the Pig and Whistle
"Anything with a barrel and a roof over it in those days was called a pub," Bill said.
The O'Connells changed the name to the Claremorris, after an Irish town.
It retained that name until about 40 years ago when it was renamed the East Trentham Hotel and then a few years later, it was back to its original name.
For more than a century, according to Bill, it was a simple weatherboard hotel with lots of small rooms. Today it's solid brick, with several add-ons.
Like many country hotels, it has had many owners and many licensees. But to locals it is still "the Pig".
The current licensees of less than two months are Brendan and Jasmine Hynes. Brendan is a qualified chef who grew up on his parents' dairy farm in Kiewa Valley.
Until recently he had run a milk bar delicatessen in St Kilda.
Brendan concedes he is not yet fully familiar with the pub's history. He prefers to leave that to the likes of the long established local Irish families, including the Beatties, McMenamins and O'Connells.
Bill O'Connell said for more than a century, the pub was well supported by the farm workers, timber cutters and spud diggers.
The latter would camp from April to July in the simple single room spud huts, many of which are still standing but empty and in disrepair throughout East Trentham.
The pub was the obvious venue for the spud digger. Far better than being pent up in a cold damp tin spud hut.
"In those days, a spud digger would earn in two days what a carpenter could in a week," Bill said.
He said they would drink to closing time and then retire to a back room or "snake pit" where they would continue to drink, argue and fight.
Closing time was six o'clock during World War I and so there was plenty of after-hours illegal drinking and fighting, according to Bill. But he refrained from naming the combatants who have long deceased out of respect for the descendants.
The fighting and drinking days slowly came to an end as machinery began to replace the spud digger during 1960s.
Trentham's farming has moved away from potatoes and dairying to fat lambs and an array of small farm pursuits such as berries, nuts, goats, alpacas and horses.
The Pig and Whistle clientele has also changed. The spud digger has been replaced by the weekend tourist or "yuppies" as Bill calls them.
"It's the only way a pub like this will survive," Brendan Hynes said.
Brendan is aware of retaining the pub's Irish history with pictures and paraphernalia which adorn the bar including a large print of Young and Jackson's famous Chloe.
There is also a very formal photograph, circa 1950s, of five McMenanim and O'Connell men. They had just beaten a team of spud diggers in a tug-o-war. Proud of the victory, they dressed up in their Sunday best for the picture.
On July 3, the O'Connells will gather at "the Pig" to celebrate its 150 years.
