Hot debate over the Bun Pub

Kaimkillenbun was slow to warm to the idea of having a hotel in town, with a large percentage of the community against a pub.

WATERING HOLE: In this early photograph, the Kenilworth Hotel is on the left. The building on the right was the one originally planned to be the hotel. It was used for many years as a general store and was destroyed by fire in 1960.

THERE was excitement in the little pioneering town of Kaimkillenbun.

It was the year of 1908 and the fledgling town was beginning to expand from the railway siding on the Bell line which had been constructed only two years before.

A crowd gathered around the siding as an important visitor was bringing the results of a poll that had been conducted throughout the district.

A man named Lynagh had built a large wooden building with the aim of opening it as a hotel. The closest alcohol was at Dalby some twenty kilometres away.

However the idea was not endorsed by some of the church attending families living around as they no doubt envisioned drunkenness and brawls would start to occur in their township.

The Rev George Tulloch led the cast against establishing a hotel.

He was supported by Patrick Findlay who was strongly against alcohol.

The story is told that he once set fire to his own paddock of barley after someone had told him barley was used for making beer.

He was adamant no one was going to make alcohol from his barley.

The stage was set as Mr Taylor, the former Jimbour manager, arrived by train to bring the district the results.

The "no” case won the poll and so the hotel idea was canned.

The large wooden building was then used as a boarding house and later a store.

The temperance enthusiasts established a boarding house on the other side of the railway line to cater for the many people who wanted accommodation that a hotel may have supplied.

The village grew as a butcher shop, bakery and grocery store were opened and supplied the settlers around.

A modern hall and school of arts was built and a primary school was opened for the children to attend. Some lamented the absence of a hotel.

Then from the west came a gold miner who purchased a property a mile or so out of town.

Edwin Higgs proceeded to build an attractive brick home on his land which he called "Kenilworth.”

The bricks were made at Moola and transported to the site.

It was four or five years since the last poll was run that defeated the hotel establishment and Higgs was determined to have another go.

This time the "Yes” case won. The former building was operating well as a store so Edmund Higgs decided a brick establishment was to be built.

With the Moola bricks an attractive two story structure was erected and opened in 1913 and called the Kenilworth Hotel. At that time it would have looked as impressive as the top Dalby hotels.

Alf Knight was the first lessee and as he was also a barber, he opened a billiard room and barber shop next door. He stayed for five years and then Higgs took over for a time.

There have been many licensees over the past 105 years and some notable characters among them.

The building lost part of its roof in a wild storm and the interior was remodelled in 1961.

In 1983, the hotel was the centre attraction for the tele movie Chase Through the Night.

At that time almost unknown stars such as Nicole Kidman, Scott McGregor and John Jarratt passed through the doors of the old pub.

In the movie the town was called "Caribun” which meant the name on the building "The Bun Pub” could stay.

No longer called Kennilworth the old pub has ventured into its second century quite well. The business that was once rejected now almost alone holds the little community of Kaimkillenbun together.

Originally published as Hot debate over the Bun Pub