Saved: pub with no town but a new lease of life for Toompine South Western Hotel
Three years ago the lonely Toompine South Western Hotel in outback Queensland was close to being boarded up. Its new owners felt a duty to save it.
It stands as “the pub without a town”, but three years ago, the lonely Toompine South Western Hotel in outback Queensland was close to being boarded up.
Its new owners, graziers Kate and Stuart Bowen, considered whether it was even salvageable or if they would need to tear it down and start again.
But they felt a duty to the community and to the pub that has sat on the dusty road between Thargomindah and Quilpie, 1000km west of Brisbane, since 1893, surrounded by a cemetery, community hall, tennis court, polocrosse field and little else.
After a two-year renovation that has been a true family affair, the Toompine pub has been given new life, reopening in November and playing host on Saturday for 70 locals who came in from the neighbouring sheep and cattle stations for Christmas Eve lunch.
“There’s a responsibility to owning a pub out here,” Ms Bowen said. “You feel like a caretaker for the community. This is the gathering place, this is where the community comes and we knew if we lost it, it’s a long way to go to the next place.”
While the Bowens have embarked on their new career as publicans alongside daughter Lauren Bond and her husband Sean, who moved from Toowoomba, the arrival of their newest grandchild means they have also relied on the service of backpackers Matthew Hawkins, 27, and Becky Murton, 26.
The British couple swapped the bustle of Sydney, where they struggled to find a place to rent, for the emptiness of the outback.
It’s a sentimental full circle for Ms Bowen, whose great aunt owned the pub from the 1940s to the 1970s, and Ms Bond, who as a teenager told the local newspaper her dream job was running the Toompine pub.
Ms Bowen, who had been running the family’s 20,000ha cattle property, was in a state of shock when their offer to buy the pub, which she refers to as “her”, was accepted in December 2019.
“I said to my husband, ‘what am I going to do?’” she said.
“He said, ‘well, you’d better get up there and start cooking’.”
When they bought it, the rundown pub was a mess of exposed wires, mismatched plumbing, white ants, rotting floorboards and asbestos.
“She was almost falling down,” Ms Bowen said. “With the old buildings, the more you dig, the more you find.”
Then came the Covid pandemic, which provided the opportunity to shut the doors and begin the renovation that was needed.
“It gave us the time to stop, think, plan and settle,” Ms Bowen said. “When we were closed down I promised I’d never leave her.
“We had to gut the whole thing and it looked really tragic.”
Much of the work has been done by Mr Bond, a builder, who has been living in a room of the old hotel with his young family to complete the rebuild.
While the pub is open and looking splendid, the renovation is still not complete and the family plans to make several more additions and changes.
Ms Murton and Mr Hawkins, who have been treated “like family”, plan to keep working at the pub while taking time off occasionally to continue travelling around Australia.
“I like life being a bit slower out here and appreciating time with fewer people,” Ms Murton said.
“It was overwhelming at first but now I really appreciate it.
“I’ve loved seeing the pub’s personality grow as it’s been renovated and opened.
“I think it is the people that make it special.”
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