Pub in ghost town to reopen after 20 years

IT IS a 131-year-old ghost town in the Australian outback with a population of zero, occasionally attracting tourists as a place where there is nothing to do.

Betoota, in a near-inhospitable area of Queensland, is 100 miles from the nearest inhabited area, and its temperatures can exceed 122F (50C). The last permanent resident died in 2004. But the town’s only remaining building – the Betoota Hotel, a sandstone pub built around 1890 – is set to reopen.

Robert Haken, a panel beater, said he first saw the pub 30 years ago. He plans to open in August, and will serve fuel and drinks as well as snacks. “When I walked into the place I thought, what an amazing bit of history and why isn’t someone doing something with it,” he told Brisbane Times.

The pub’s previous owner was Simon Remienko, a Polish-born migrant who bought it in 1953 and closed it in 1997, charging prices according to how much he liked the customer.