Bouldercombe Royal Hotel struck off council unpaid rates auction list

A country pub at Bouldercombe has been closed since 2018 with locals volunteering their time to maintain around the building so it doesn’t become a hazard. It almost went to auction this month but was saved at the last minute.

The Bouldercombe Royal Hotel, pictured in June 2023.

There was a small glimmer of hope that something might finally happen regarding the future of the closed Bouldercombe Royal Hotel, but it faded at the last minute.

Bouldercombe, west of Rockhampton on the way to Mount Morgan, lost its only pub when the doors of the Royal closed suddenly in October 2018, leaving the town with just a service station.

Over the past five years, it has remained closed and has not even been listed for sale as it has been caught up in drawn-out legal proceedings.

Harry Bruce's cartoon of the Bouldercombe Hotel.

Roland Gooding, who had owned the pub from 1972 and used to run it himself back in the day, closed the pub due to “drought and rising electricity costs”.

Mr Gooding was a career publican, having owned pubs in Longreach, Blackall and Barcaldine.

Soon after the Bouldy Pub closure, he filed for liquidation.

The liquidation was finalised in May 2020 with $804,930.61 still owing to creditors including wages and superannuation to one employee, Blackall-Tambo Regional Council for unpaid rates, Westpac bank, the tax office, Ergon Energy and a Gold Coast business accounting and taxation company WLW Group.

In April 2019, Mr Gooding was served with a $7500 outstanding liquor bill after a cross-country search for him through Longreach and Blackall.

In June 2019, Mr Gooding filed for bankruptcy, and this was finalised in June 2022 when he was discharged.

The bankruptcy was originally transferred to Australian Financial Security Authority but was last year transferred to registered trustee BT Acumen, based in Townsville.

BT Acumen was contacted for comment this week by The Morning Bulletin however advised it could not provide information on the bankrupt estate to anyone other than a creditor.

The pub itself is more than 120 years old, built in 1897 and originally situated halfway along Mt Usher Rd before being shifted to its current location in 1930.

Royal Hotel at Bouldercombe in 1989

Over the past five years, The Morning Bulletin has made various enquiries to little fruition with liquidators, banks and bankruptcy trustees about the future of the pub.

It remains boarded up and not even listed on the real estate market.

The last time it was listed for sale was from 2016 to 2019 for $600,000.

The hotel features include a bottle shop, internal dining room, beer garden and BBQ area and four budget rooms upstairs.

In its heyday it would attract quite the crowd, particularly for BBQs on Friday nights.

Historic photo of the Bouldy Pub.

From the outside, it doesn’t look too abandoned as locals have maintained around the building because of wildlife concerns and a campground located next to it.

The state of the hotel inside is not clear as the windows and doors are boarded up. It is not heritage listed.

The property listed for auction to recoup unpaid rates for Rockhampton Regional Council, along with the Central Hotel in Koongal, and locals were excited to see something might finally happen with it.

Some locals also floated ideas of getting a group to pitch in money and buy the pub as a community.

But on the eve of the auction it disappeared off the list, indicating its debts had been cleared.

The land behind the Bouldercombe Hotel recently sold for $205,000.

The camping area on the grounds next to the Bouldy Hotel.

The 1.2ha of land surrounding the hotel, which is used as a popular campground and was sighted with quite a few caravans and campers on it this week, sold earlier this month for $200,500 through LJ Hooker Rockhampton.

It was also originally on the unpaid rates auction list however was quickly taken off.

Originally published as Bouldercombe Royal Hotel struck off council unpaid rates auction list