Small town pub renovation revives community spirit

Following renovations of a neglected pub in the small Queensland town of Theebine, owner Jackson MacDonald has brought the venue back to life and the locals are loving it.

The rookie publican has proved the doubters wrong – particularly those who told him he wouldn’t survive with installing pokies – in reviving the Kilkivan Junction Hotel, which has a long history.

MacDonald was also undeterred by a $60,000 annual insurance bill, as he put in an expansive front deck late last year, created eight rooms upstairs that regularly book out, and set up a caravan park outside.

The hotel was built 114 years ago and is an hour and a half from the Sunshine Coast.

"A lot of these pubs of this era have all burned to the ground; there's bugger all pubs left like this in Queensland and I've always loved old pubs," MacDonald told the ABC.

"It was for sale for a fair while; [I] just decided to buy it and keep it in local hands, save foreigners having to buy it.

"Originally, it was just a railway hotel and a railway station opposite," MacDonald said.

"It was opened for business in 1909."

"The cookhouse was eaten out with termites eight years ago, so the kitchen out the back was rebuilt.

"But apart from that the building's still original."

Theebine has a small population of 145 according to the 2021 census and locals are loving it.

"I think it's great, just great for the area," Stuart Vollmerhausen told the ABC..

"Travellers from everywhere, they just turn up for lunch on Saturdays.

"It's just a great friendly country pub.

The hotel is also staffed with locals – 16 to be precise and Threebine looks to be a community reunited.

"You talk to a lot of operators today and everyone says you can't survive without pokies, but we're proof you can," MacDonald said.

"For all these big companies taking over these pubs it's not about alcohol or food anymore.

"It's all about getting pokies in there, which to me is not what a pub should be about."

Jonathan Jackson - 16-2-23