Quamby Pub up for sale following milestone of publicans’ agreement

When Nigel and Karen Sheiles bought the abandoned Quamby Pub, they made a promise: two years to revive it, then pass it on. Now, after fulfilling that commitment, the pub is ready for its next era.

The iconic Quamby pub, about 60kms from Cloncurry is looking for a new owner. Nigel and Karen Sheiles have spent a couple of years rebuilding the pub and are now ready to move on. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

Quamby is known for its authentic annual rodeo in the rugged country north of Cloncurry, but the community is marked by its pub.

The 160-year-old building is a rustic and authentic site on the side of the Burke Development Rd, the gateway to the gulf communities, sitting in the proximity of a copper mine as well as a couple of cattle stations run by the Telfords and the McMillans.

For years, the former Cobb & Co staging post deteriorated and was abandoned until travellers from the Gold Coast passed through and decided to buy it.

As part of the charm it even has its own pub dog, Izzy, with a collar warning patrons not to feed it, but after two years the publicans have decided to sell up and move on, as restaurant shopfitter Nigel Sheiles honours the agreement that he made with his wife Karen.

Is it a country pub without a pub dog? Pictured at the Quamby Pub is the publicans’ dog Izzy. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

They would work there for two years after paying the asking price of $110,000 before deciding to sell up at a much higher price of $1.3m to account for the restoration.

“We’ve got it up to where we wanted to, it’s a destination, not just a pub now, people say they’ll go to Quamby,” Mr Sheiles said.

“That’s what we wanted to do, and that’s what we achieved.”

Quamby publicans Karen and Nigel Sheiles said their days can be lengthy, starting at 6.30am. They work hard in the mornings but the afternoons become more quiet. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

The Sheiles confronted many challenges in their time, from the long hours, the massive renovations and expansion of accommodation, poor telecommunication services, workforce, and the occasionally troublesome cockie.

But there is also the remoteness and tyranny of distance.

The days could often be 18 hours in length, while Mrs Sheiles had thoughts for her family and new grandchild born in South East Queensland.

Quamby publicans Karen and Nigel Sheiles have worked hard restoring the Quamby pub, and are ready to let it go and move on with their lives. It can often be lonely and isolating for the publicans, and they live far from family. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

“It’s very male orientated out here, there’s not a lot of females,” she said.

“You’ve got the wives on the stations but you never see them, they don’t come to the pub.

“When a lady does come in it’s like ‘woo-hoo, I’ve got someone to talk to’ because the men just talk crap.

The dining area of the Quamby Pub. Picture: Scott Radford-Chisholm

“I just keep them amused.”

The publicans could often have days without a patron stepping through the doors, but their patrons were mostly grey nomads, with the ringers frequenting the local pub on the weekend nights.

The fly-in, fly-out miners at Dugald River did not make an appearance but had their own canteen on-site, which Mr Sheiles hoped to supply for, while he also had hopes for emerging proposed mine by South African miners Harmony which would be double the workforce size.

The bar at the Quamby Pub which is for sale.

Mr Sheiles said the ringers were mostly well behaved and polite, but were tested by four obnoxious contractors when they first opened, who were inappropriate with women while drinking their own drinks.

Mr Sheiles said it was other station hands that reported the issues, because they themselves did not want to get kicked out of their own local pub.

Mr Sheiles said the pub was a significant part of the community because of its 60km distance to the next town, Cloncurry, and because it was a “meeting point” where the station hands could celebrate, as well as connect at the end of the season before they moved on elsewhere.

The location of the Quamby Pub north of Cloncurry. Picture: Google Maps.

He said the next Quamby publicans needed to be a “happy friendly person that’s willing to have a chat”.

“It’s just communicating with people basically,” he said.

“If you’ve got a good ear and a good yarn you’ll basically get along with them.”

Originally published as Quamby Pub up for sale following milestone of publicans’ agreement