Koumala Hotel south of Mackay for sale complete with giant crocodile
It may be a blink-and-you-miss it kind of town travelling through on the Bruce Highway but it’s hard to avoid the giant reptile plastered on the front of the 82-year-old pub up for sale.
Mackay
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It may be a blink-and-you-miss it kind of town as you travel through on the highway but its hard to avoid the giant crocodile plastered on the front of the only pub.
The historic Koumala Hotel, which opened in 1939 at the rear end of the Great Depression, is up sale with owners Ray and Rowena Colgrave keen to expand their herd of Brahman and Angus cattle at the top of the range.
Mrs Rowena said the crocodile was a beacon for tourists who had yet to see the living dinosaur in their lifetime.
“Its mostly overseas tourists headed towards Airlie Beach and Cairns and they’ve pulled in because it’s an iconic country pub,” she said.
Buying the hotel six years ago, Mrs Colgrave followed in the footsteps of her publican parents who owned the Metropolitan Hotel in Mackay.
“And they used to have the Eton Hotel when I was a little girl, so I was a little pub rat,” Mrs Colgrave said.
She said her favourite part of being at the helm of Koumala Hotel had been forming friendships with locals who entrenched them as one of their own.
“This is the best community that I’ve ever lived in and my husband says the same and he’s up from the Gulf Country, Mareeba, he’s done a lot of smaller towns and country towns,” Mrs Colgrave said.
“(Koumala’s) just one of those (communities) that everybody helps each other out if we’ve got a flood, fire, cyclone.”
And it was community members who had shaped the pub with the wall behind the bar adorned with prize-winning crabs, a giant barra, a crocodile skin plus a primate’s behind, to name just a few.
“It must have started as a male competition, a bit of testosterone-i-al competition,” Mrs Rowena said.
Adding to the rustic charm were the vintage 1950s cabinets, 50-year-old bar fridge doors, bar paraphernalia and VJ walls.
The pub, earning a reputation for its barra burgers made from locally-caught seafood, is listed for sale at $998,500.
With 12 rooms upstairs, Mrs Colgrave said the hotel made a healthy annual turnover.
“I would love a local to take it over,” she said adding the hotel was perfect for anyone looking for a friendly, country lifestyle with good schools nearby.
For more information, phone Harcourts Coastal real estate agent Tina Sander on 0418 878 901 or email tina.sander@coastal.com.au
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