Bush Summit: Outback pubs raise bar for mental health & mateship
Country watering holes have long been regarded as the glue holding their communities together, but with drought, bushfires and COVID-19 impacting our bush’s battlers, their role has become more important than ever.
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True story — a man rides a horse into the Boorowa Hotel and landlord Michael Ward asks: “Why the long face?”
“We get a lot of horses ridden into the bar — it’s a country pub,” said Mike. “You probably don’t see that so much in Sydney.”
But the publican from the country town an hour or so outside Cowra is also watching to see if any of his regulars have a long face, particularly in the wake of drought, bushfires and now COVID-19.
“There’s a lady who had dropped out of Rotary and fallen into the black hole. There are a lot of people reaching out to her right now,” he said.
The regulars in his Irish-themed hotel rely on each other for support. “We have a group of four or five old buggers who come in here for lunch. A clergyman, a carpenter, all sorts and they reckon if we laid on a bus for the cockies to come to the pub it would save the mental health service a fortune.”
Retired council worker Bert McMahon, 80, is also the town barber on Saturday mornings. “I take great pride in knowing most people in town,” he said. “The pub is where we come to share our stories … and get away from the womenfolk.”
He is joking. Peter Brewer, 75, the town’s former scout master, believes Aussie country humour is the key to resilience. “This is like an extended family and it’s cheaper than a shrink,” he said.
Former commercial pilot David Newling, 63, loves the support that comes from meeting mates in the pub.
“Sometimes you don’t even have to talk about what’s on your mind. You come in, tell a few lies, tell a few jokes and it relieves the pressure.”
Mary O’Brien, founder of charity Are You Bogged Mate, described depression among men in the bush as “verging on an epidemic”, with country men twice as likely to take their own lives as their city counterparts.
“The country pub is absolutely critical,” she said. “It is so important for men to be able to spend time together with other men doing things they like. Humour is a critical part of that.”
Which is why the Boorowa Hotel is full of sayings and joke signs, including one telling patrons that if they pay twice as much for the first beer they get the second one for free.
Shane Fitzsimmons, NSW Commissioner of Resilience, said: “The (country) pub is the social glue of a community … they can come together and share their thoughts and feelings. It is crucial because what we are seeing today is tough.”
So getting back to that horse in the bar. “The rider was a little worse for wear so I bundled him into the car and drove him home, holding the reins through the window so the horse could trot along beside me,” said Mr Ward. “I guess you don’t see that very often in Sydney either.”