Mona Minahan

Monica Augustine “Mona” Minahan, (24 September 1897 – 19 September 1996) also known as Mona Haines, was an Australian businesswoman. She lived in Alice Springs and was responsible for building the Riverside Hotel, later known as the Todd Tavern, the town's largest hotel to that point.

Early life Minahan was born in inner-city Adelaide and was the fifth of eight children of William Lott and Annie Marrie Minahan. After World War I she began managing her mother's hotels there which included the Oxford, Henley Beach and Buck's Head hotels. She also began investing in property in Adelaide. In an oral history interview Minahan stated that, from her impression of the town from the Alice Springs railway station, she was unimpressed - wanting to leave as soon as the next train - but soon changed her mind as people rushed to assist her and carry her luggage. She began working at the hotel, and a number of their other businesses including another pub at Barrow Creek, and it acknowledged as being the first barmaid there. By 1954, she rose to prominence, becoming "one of Central Australia’s best-known identities."

In the late 1940s Minahan entered a business and personal partnership with Arthur Ronald Haines who had recently arrived in Alice Springs and they began living together. They would go on to marry in the 1970s. Soon after the hotel opened and struggling to manage the pressures of both businesses Minahan sold Centralian Traders to Woolworths and later, when ready to retire, she sold the Riverside Hotel in 1973. The members' bar at Traeger Park Oval is also named for her and is known as 'Mona's Lounge'.