Sign into an existing account

Update - It appears the bus was not in fact "acquired in Blighty," but was part of a redundant fleet imported from the UK that saw service in Sydney & Newcastle NSW. Deserted Double Decker, OZ Outback’s Busted Bus.

I first went to Betoota in 1966 it was in a military convoy that had set out from the Army Apprentices School at Balcombe in Victoria, the hotel was a true bush pub everything inside was coated with a fine layer of dust that had blown in from the desert thru the open ground level doorway, at the back was a bit of a beer garden with a few hanging basket plants and a p house.

I was next thru there in 1991 on Christmas leave from employment on construction at the Gordonstone Coal Mine near Emerald in Central Queensland, the Polish publican remembered me from my previous visit and said after he came from Poland he had driven a grader on the roads throughout the Diamantina Shire, he recounted that once there were four pubs on Betoota's main street.

I went back thru there in '04 en route from Brisbane by way of the Birdsville Track to employment at Olympic Dam Mine at Roxby Downs in South Australia, the pub was closed and boarded up he had passed away some time before, he was well known in outback circles and a well worded obituary from the Polish Club in Brisbane had appeared in various newspapers at the time.