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The Dictionary of Sydney
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Larry Foley's White Horse Hotel in George Stree...

Larry Foley's White Horse Hotel in George Street, Sydney, with the Sudan regiment passing by 1885

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National Library of Australia

[PIC/8395/1 Album 1049/1]

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Foley, Larry

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Sudan War 1885

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Armed forces

Roads

Hotels and Pubs

Foley, Larry

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Pugilist who introduced the Queensberry rules into boxing in Australia and helped to revitalise the sport. A building contractor who joined the Catholic larrikin gang The Greens and as its leader he lasted 71 rounds in a fight with Sandy Ross, leader of the Orange Protestant group, at Como on the Georges River in 1871. He ran two hotels in Sydney. The first, Foley's Hotel, was on York Street. In 1885 he refurbished an old tavern named Nissen's Cafe on George Street and renamed it the White Horse Hotel. Bouts were fought and boxers trained in a gym at the back of the building.

Sudan War 1885

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In March 1885, the New South Wales Contingent departed from Sydney to participate in a British colonial conflict in Sudan, the first time that Australian soldiers had been sent to fight overseas. The contingent comprised 758 soldiers. Hostilities had ended before the Australians arrived and the Contingent returned in May 1885. Nine men were lost through illness.