With an accordant level of pomp and ceremony, the famed Betoota Hotel, intrepid Bastian of the outback, has reopened in time for the tourist rush to Birdsville.
After a two-year break in proceedings, the legendary Birdsville races return in 2022, scheduled for Friday, 2 September.
And aiming to capitalise on the hordes of race-goers, adventurers and grey nomads en-route to the south-west Queensland town, the revived Betoota pub is offering respite.
Betoota is a dot on the outback map, a casual 1,423 kilometres east of Brisbane, but a couple of hours shy of regional metropolis Birdsville, boasting the iconic Birdsville Hotel and a solid population of 140 people.
Betoota is in part famous for having an official population of zero, after the passing of Simon “Ziggy” Remienko – loyal publican of the Betoota Hotel for 44 years – who passed away in 2004.
The pub had been closed since 1997, leaving the old town unoccupied, and Remienko bequeathed it to Birdsville publicans David Brook and Kym Fort, who had previously revived the Birdsville Hotel after it was ravaged by fire in 1979.
But the couple determined the Betoota pub was too big a challenge, and so it remained abandoned for nearly a quarter of a century.
Just before Christmas in 2017, panelbeater Robert ‘Robbo’ Haken took the plunge and the deeds to the derelict pub. Work required the structure be completely gutted, and all new electrics and plumbing installed.
What was at first thought to be a dirt floor in the public bar turned out to be timber, after four inches of dust were removed.
Robbo was gearing up for a reopening in early 2020, but just as a truck carrying $60,000 worth of stock arrived, so did news of the pandemic and a national shutdown. He sold off his new supplies to locals in a fire sale, and returned to work beating cars in Brisbane.
Having bided his time and been through a GoFundMe campaign to help get the old girl back to life, the ambitious new publican has now finally reopened the legend and is busy letting people celebrate.
“If you were here last night, there was a lot of hair getting let down,” he told the ABC.
In recent years Betoota has also become famous for its claim to Australia’s oldest newspaper, the satirical Betoota Advocate, which has made the town a household name through the tireless dedication of its editors Errol Parker and Clancy Overell, who told PubTIC they are excited to see what the new owners do with the old pub.
“It’s great to have a new place for the young ringers to drink outside of the quarters at Mt Leonard station, and it’s great to know that the tourists will be able to learn a bit more about the place through the art of publican yarns,” says Parker.
Robbo is happy for the attention the publication brings, saying the lads are doing “a good job” and are “always welcome”.
“You’ve got to have a laugh at something.”
No laughing matter, the hike to Birdsville is a little less risky with Betoota back in business, fielding tourists traversing stretches of unsealed roads, battling fatigue and mechanical failures.
As the only pub for hundreds of kilometres east or west, it is an oasis in more ways than one, and keeps its keeper occupied.
“All my skills get used up pretty well,” says Robbo. “My trade skills get used up during the day, and my dancing works at night.”
