Raising the bar

The Pub Route connects travellers to the history and stories of the hotels, roadside inns and pubs that shaped the north-west of NSW.

Story + Photos Andrew Hull

The sleepy village of Collarenebri, north-western NSW, has new life pulsing in its streets. Footpaths are busy with couples ambling like day-tripping beachgoers, the riverside parks are filled with caravans and campers, cars are parked in front of shops and locals are obliged to look both ways at intersections now, a precaution they haven’t needed in some time. Beside the bridge crossing the Barwon River, not so much a symptom of all this activity but closer to the cause of it, the Tattersalls Hotel Motel is doing great business.

Brother and sister team Max and Phyllis Dunn spent a good part of their formative years here, and have recently returned to the little town. The lively septuagenarians, with at least one highly successful business behind them, have breathed new life into the place.

Collarenebri is the north-easternmost spot on a group of touring trails within the western NSW shires of Walgett, Bourke and Cobar, known collectively as The Pub Route. These curated trails follow breadcrumb-like paths of historic old shanties and roadside inns around the remote region, linking up with the smaller villages and existing hotels which, like the Tattersalls, can be the most crucial infrastructure in the community.