HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE BERYL ELEFSEN HONOURING THE LIFE’S WORK OF BERYL ELEFSEN
As the photos in this story show – and as Peter Hurley emphasised at the awards ceremony– Beryl Elefsen has “done it all” since her first job in a hotel at the age of 14.
She has been there for the 70-plus years since.
Beryl recalls buying the Minnipa Hotel for 10,000 pounds “on April Fool’s Day 1965”.
Yes pounds!
“I can’t believe I deserve this but it’s good,” she said. “Thank you very, very much. “I’ve loved my life in hotels, in which I’ve spent most of it working. “I loved it and I still love it.” Beryl was unable to attend the awards ceremony, but long-time friend and former AHA|SA President, Peter Hurley AO, gave a stirring speech that gave an insight into Beryl’s achievements: I had the pleasure of meeting Beryl and Doug Elefsen on day two of my tenure at Wudinna Hotel in July 1975. They came in for a butcher of beer, introduced themselves, and extended the hand of friendship. It is a friendship that has endured the 46 years and 2 months from that date. Their Minnipa pub is 20 miles further west on the Eyre Highway and it was my nearest neighbour pub. My brother Brian and his wife Robyn bought into the lease of the Wudinna pub in early 1978 and they too became very close friends of the Elefsens. Beryl told me over the table at a Beef Steak & Burgundy Dinner at Minnipa Hotel in 1976 that she started her working life as a 14-year-old at Wudinna Hotel, after which she got a job at the Minnipa Hotel as a 19-year-old.
24 | Hotel SA | W W W . A H A S A . A S N . A U
Doug and Beryl purchased the freehold of the Minnipa on April Fools Day, 1965 for the massive sum of 10,000 pounds. Few in this room would lay claim to having purchased their pub in the currency of the mother country. In 1965 I was a bank clerk earning 10 pounds a week, so I guess it’s all relative. Since that April Fools Day, Beryl has literally done it all. She has cooked the meals. She has carried the plates to the dining room. She was the Function Manager. She was Head Housekeeper. She made the beds. She cleaned the toilets. She headed up the laundry. She scrubbed the floors. She was head office girl. Made up the wages. Paid the accounts. Did the ordering. She counted the tills and did the banking. And she covered the bars during Doug’s frequent absences. On the topic of Doug’s absences, I recall that one morning “Chessy” the barman came in looking a bit scruffy so Doug decided he needed a haircut. He went to the kitchen and asked Beryl to keep an eye on the bar while he took Chessy for a haircut. They didn’t arrive back to the pub till about 6 pm. Beryl enquired why it took all day as Wudinna, where she assumed they had gone, is only 20 miles down the Eyre Highway.
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