Glasses raised over the passing of NQ hotel legends
TWO legends of the North Queensland hotel industry, sisters Fay and Barbara Buck, have passed away within days of each other in Mareeba.
The sisters were long-time publicans and owners of Townsville’s West End Hotel, while the Buck family also leased and operated Dunlops Hotel in Mareeba in the 1970s.
Fay’s cousin, Val Venturato, whose family operates Townsville’s Herbert Hotel, said she and the sisters were very close, buying their Townsville hotels together at an auction of Carlton and United Breweries pubs in Brisbane in 1986.
Fay Buck, 82, passed away on August 17, just 10 days after Barbara, who was 79.
“Fay had a beautiful nature. The word ‘no’ was never in her vocabulary. Everybody loved Fay,” Mrs Venturato said.
While Barbara retired almost 20 years ago, Fay operated the West End Hotel for 34 years and lived on the premises until it was sold to new owners last year.
Former staff member Jo Ewen said Fay was “one in a million”.
“She had a lot of dedicated staff. You will never get a boss like her. Fay was just real. You weren’t any different. She helped everyone,” Ms Ewen said.
Mrs Venturato said Fay was a traditional publican who would help her customers.
“When she had Dunlops in Mareeba all the cowboys and ringers would come in and give Fay their pay packets. That way it would last longer. If they had it, they would have blown it all,” Mrs Venturato said.
“When they ran out of money, they would go back to the station (property) to work.”
More than 50 people passed on their sympathy to Fay’s family when the West End Hotel posted a message about her passing on the hotel’s Facebook page this week.
A funeral service for Fay will be held at the Mareeba Memorial Chapel from 1pm on August 23.