Men At Work built their following at Melbourne’s Cricketers Arms Hotel before conquering the world. Today, the Richmond pub’s own website celebrates its history without mentioning the band that began its journey there.
by Paul Cashmere
Men At Work will return to Australia in October and November 2026, but before Colin Hay takes the band back to Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Fremantle, there is a piece of Australian music history sitting quietly on Punt Road. The Cricketers Arms Hotel in Richmond was the venue where Men At Work established the residency that helped turn a developing Melbourne band into an international phenomenon. More than four decades later, the pub’s official website describes the venue as one of Richmond’s iconic and oldest pubs, but makes no mention of Men At Work or the band’s role in its history.
Watch the Noise11 Men At Work interview with Colin Hay:
The omission is striking because Men At Work did far more than become another successful Australian pub band. Business As Usual, released in 1981, spent 15 weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and five weeks at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. By early 1983, Men At Work had simultaneously reached No. 1 in the United States with both their album and “Down Under”, an achievement Noise11 has previously documented as unprecedented for an Australian act.
The story began much more modestly. After forming in Melbourne in 1979, Men At Work developed their material through the city’s pub circuit before establishing a regular Thursday night residency at the Cricketers Arms. The band’s own history states that they played there for more than a year, building a dedicated following before they had a record on radio.
That makes the current absence of a plaque, sign or other prominent acknowledgement difficult to overlook. The point is not that every pub where an Australian band once played needs to become a museum. The Cricketers Arms, however, was not merely one stop on the circuit. It was a formative venue for a band that went on to become one of Australia’s most internationally successful rock acts.
Colin Hay recently recalled the venue in a Noise11 interview, describing the Cricketers Arms as a “big deal” in the band’s early history. He also noted the difference between how musical landmarks are treated overseas and how Australian venues sometimes regard their own history.
“If you took that pub and put it somewhere in an American city, they’d probably have a sign out the front saying it was the birthplace of Men At Work,” Hay told Noise11.
The contrast is particularly notable because Men At Work’s rise was closely connected to the live following they established at the venue. The band’s official history says that after several months at the Cricketers Arms, John Rees joined on bass and the group played every Thursday night for more than a year. By the end of 1980, Men At Work could sell out almost any Melbourne venue without a song on radio.
The next chapter changed the scale completely. CBS signed Men At Work and “Who Can It Be Now?” became the first major single from the sessions that produced Business As Usual. The album subsequently became a landmark of Australian music, with “Who Can It Be Now?”, “Down Under” and “Be Good Johnny” taking the band from Melbourne pubs to international radio.
The numbers remain extraordinary. Business As Usual spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in America and five weeks at No. 1 in Britain. Noise11 has previously noted that the album sold more than six million copies in the United States and that Men At Work became the first Australian recording act to simultaneously hold the No. 1 album position in both the United States and United Kingdom.
The Cricketers Arms remains an operating pub at 327 Punt Road, Richmond. Its current website promotes its proximity to the MCG and describes the venue as having “loads of history”, but its published history and venue information do not identify Men At Work.
That is the missed opportunity. A modest plaque would not alter the pub’s business, nor would it require turning the venue into a dedicated Men At Work attraction. It would simply identify a fact that can be independently established: one of Australia’s most successful bands developed its live identity there.
There is also a wider issue about how Australian music history is preserved. Men At Work were not an obscure cult act whose importance grew retrospectively. Their international breakthrough happened in real time and at a scale few Australian artists had previously achieved. Their music remains part of the international repertoire, while Colin Hay continues to tour the Men At Work catalogue with a Los Angeles-based band.
As Men At Work return to Australia in 2026, the irony becomes more pronounced. The band will perform at major theatres and outdoor venues across the country, including a Melbourne show at the Palais Theatre, not far from the neighbourhood where the story began.
The Cricketers Arms does not need to rewrite its history. It only needs to acknowledge it. Somewhere on Punt Road, a plaque recognising Men At Work would connect the pub to one of the most remarkable chapters in Australian music history and ensure that the next generation knows what happened there.
Tour Dates
Men At Work | Live In Concert
20 October 2026, Sydney, State Theatre
30 October 2026, Canberra, Royal Theatre
4 November 2026, Melbourne, Palais Theatre
12 November 2026, Fremantle, Fremantle Prison
Men At Work | Live In Concert tickets and information
Red Hot Summer Tour 2026
17 October 2026, Toowoomba, Queens Park
18 October 2026, Sandstone Point, Sandstone Point Hotel
24 October 2026, Berry, Berry Showground
25 October 2026, Manly, Keirle Park
31 October 2026, Hunter Valley, Roche Estate
1 November 2026, Coolangatta, Coolangatta Beach
7 November 2026, Ballarat, Victoria Park
8 November 2026, Mornington, Mornington Racecourse
14 November 2026, Swan Valley, Sandalford Wines
15 November 2026, Glenelg, Glenelg Beach
Red Hot Summer Tour 2026 tickets and information
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first. Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Facebook: Comment on the news of the day
