A tribute to the Australian love affair with the humble pub has “roared” back to life, luring hundreds of people to a spectacularly remote dot on the outback map to experience the Betoota phoenix.
The locality of Betoota is a leisurely 1,422km (around 15.5 hours) west of Brisbane, on the Gibber Plain, 170 kilometres east of outback icon Birdsville.
For more than two decades the town’s fame has counterintuitively centred around its population of zero, since last man standing Sigmund Remienko – owner of the pub – shut up and left in 1997. Sigmund was an immigrant from Poland, who came to Australia after World War II and worked government contracts until he bought the pub in 1957.
The Betoota pub has been closed since his retirement. Sigmund passed away in 2004.
In recent years the memory of Betoota has been revived by the intrepid Betoota Advocate – reputedly one of Australia’s oldest and best-trusted titles – which has taken to reporting on modern life in the town and around the country.
Brisbane smash repairer Robbo Haken first visited town in 1990, and despite or perhaps aided by his young son falling into the Hotel’s outhouse drop-dunny he fell in love with the pub.
In 2017 he took a big punt and bought the isolated, century-old premise from David Brook – pastoralist and co-owner of the legendary Birdsville Hotel.
Taking the keys to the Betoota Hotel, now closed for 20 years, Haken spent years knocking it back into shape, having to bring everything to build and operate and to install power and water.
Complementing the ample street parking and availability of campsites, the sandstone pub incorporates its own accommodation, now even boasting no less than two honeymoon suites.
The outdoor toilet was given the necessary upgrades, and after a tick from the Diamantina Shire planning department The Betoota triumphantly reopened for a couple of days in late March before being forcibly closed again along with every other pub in the country.
Unperturbed, Robbo bided his time until the time was right again, and now the Betoota Hotel is back in business once again, serving up to 40 meals a night and “the best pies and beer in town” to the hundreds of hungry travellers that have made the trek out back.
Robbo says he’s been stunned at the reception it has gotten from roaming Queenslanders. “They all seem to be coming out here.”
Gearing up to capitalise on satisfying the needs of footloose and travel-bugged banana-benders, the pub is calling all truckies and travellers for a four-day party starting 29 August.
“There will be camp oven dinners, damper by the fire and drinks by the bar, hot showers and free camping,” says Robbo.
The Advocate was contacted for comment on the new hotspot in town, but PubTIC was unable to garner a reply from editor Errol Parker, who is thought to be putting the new pub through its paces.
