Grey nomads who love to make visits to remote rural pubs a part of their Big Lap adventure will be delighted to learn that an iconic Outback hostelry is about to stage an unlikely comeback.
The Betoota Hotel was the last business to close in the abandoned Queensland town of Betoota … and it hasn’t served up a beer in over 20 years. However, a one-time customer, has just bought the pub and he is hoping thirsty grey nomads will help him breathe new life into the ghost town.
Robert Haken says that, with no one living in Betoota, all his future revenue will have to come from people travelling in the remote region, which lies 170 kilometres east of Birdsville on the edge of the Simpson Desert.
“It’s just a beautiful piece of Australian history and it has so much character and, when I saw it there, I thought somebody’s got to do something with this building,” he told the ABC. “We’re right in the middle of Windorah and Birdsville and I think it’ll take a lot of pressure off tourists, and now they’ll have somewhere to go to refuel, get their tyres changed, have a cold beer and relax.”
Mr Haken, who used to frequent the pub back in the 1960s and 1970s, plans to re-open the pub by late-August and he says local police hope it could help reduce the numbers of tourists experiencing driver fatigue.
In recent years, the town only comes alive twice a year … at the end of August for the Betoota Races, and over Easter when a motorbike event is  held
The town of Betoota was established in 1885 as a customs post to collect cattle tolls for farmers using stock routes to South Australia. It also became a Cobb & Co change station for coach drivers to change horses during long journeys across the Queensland landscape.
The building of the Rabbit Proof Fence in 1895 drew a lot of workers to the area, and with them came the construction of a police station, courthouse, local grocery store, post office and, of course, the Betoota Hotel.
The town’s population then began to decline quickly after the Department of Trade and Customs enforced a free trade policy so Betoota was no longer needed as a customs collection point. All other businesses eventually shut down until the Betoota Hotel’s lights were the only ones shining in the tiny town.
The hotel’s last owner Sigmund ‘Ziggy’ Remienko, a Polish immigrant, who served drinks there for 40 years until ill health forced him to close its doors in 1997.
We stopped at the free camp opposite this iconic pub on our way to Birdsville. It would be fantastic if it was to open again.
I have been there on the way to birdsville went to the betooa races would love to go back some day and would certainly call in at the hotel for shore
Definitely coming for a visit !
All the best to the new owner.