Historic Betoota Hotel re-opening nearer

Many visitors to the 2109 Big Red music festival and annual Birdsville Races were disappointed to find the doors still shut at the pub of Australia’s smallest town with no beer in far-western Queensland.

Betoota, the dusty town about 170km before Birdsville just off the unsealed Development Road, is the fabled home of the Betoota Advocate satirical podcast (whose writers live in Sydney) and has just one building – its remote hotel.

Betoota's official population has been zero since the pub’s reclusive owner of more than 40 years, Simon Remienko, died in 2004, and the only other facilities in town are a racetrack,  dry weather airstrip and, of course, a cricket field.

However, hopes have been high for Betoota’s revival since Brisbane smash repairer Robbo Haken, purchased the run-down 1880s hotel and began restoring its crumbling sandstone walls and hardwood floors, initially with a view to a grand re-opening in 2018. Sadly, for many Outback travellers, that didn’t happen.

Haken admitted it hadn’t been an easy task, with many setbacks and the cost and difficulty of getting materials and tradies to the extremely remote location 17 hours west of Brisbane, saw all of his business partners drop out of the project.

Situated on a stony desert (Gibber) plain, the Betoota Hotel when finally opened will be a ‘must visit’ watering hole and stop for southbound visitors to the central Australian town, with planned activities ranging from product launches to an annual B&S Ball.

Plan a trip to be there as soon as it re-opens, with 2020 being the current best guess, although with the long build-up, there's guaranteed to be a crowd and it may take time to get a cold beer...

Also read: Top-5 Outback pubs