7 minute read
Hay, Hell and Booligal
Hay, Hell and Booligal WORDS BY DORIAN MODE. PHOTOGRAPHY LYDIA THORPE
The NSW town of Hay is so flat that if you stand on a milkcrate you can see Mudgee. But this makes it the ideal place to imbibe a glorious outback sunset. So after collecting a Sundowner Pack of nibbles from Kinfolk & Co, Hay’s newest café, we make a beeline for ‘the viewing area’. Here we catch up with Alison McLean, whom we met 10 years ago when we were last in Hay. I often wondered how Ali and her farmer husband survived the drought in the isolated town of Booligal (70 clicks out of Hay). Indeed, Booligal’s such a tough town, Banjo immortalised it in his poem, Hay, Hell and Booligal.
Upon the district and the town – Which worse than hell itself they call: In fact, the saying far and wide Along the Riverina side Is ‘Hay and Hell and Booligal’.
Alison says they only survived by switching from merinos to Dorper – a South African breed of domestic sheep primarily used for meat. Ali works part-time for Hay tourism and those clever people at Long Paddock, a tourist initiative tracing the Cobb & Co Highway Touring Route. Against a lingering sunset - like an upturned glass of mango juice - Ali shows me their latest virtual storytelling app where historic characters chat with you at various signposts – wonderful for engaging kids in history. In passing, I mention we are staying at The Bank B&B in Hay. She says the current owner, Shelia, underscores the “new Hay”.
Sheila Smith recently returned to Hay during lock down from Melbourne, where she ran/runs a successful interior design business. Her business is now housed below The Bank B&B, once her family home. Built-in 1891, said Bank was The London Chartered Bank. In 1942 it was taken over by Goldsborough Mort before housing three generations of the Smith family (not the charity). Moreover, with Shelia’s striking resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter, you’ll think you’ve stepped into a Merchant Ivory film, with the Bank B&B’s Victorian aesthetic and juxtaposition of grandeur and contemporary stylings. Shelia has a great eye for vintage chic. Psst! I can never understand why people choose a Norman Bates-esque Motel when for a
One Tree Hotel
Sheila Smith Sally Smith
few extra guineas you can stay in style, with nice linen and a wine library (my preferred reading). What we like about this B&B is guests have the entire floor. You’re not sharing with another snoring couple. But seniors note: while we adored the grand staircase it might not suit the dodgy hip gang. But most will be fine.
Breakfast on the Bank’s sunlit balcony is lush, with cloth napkins and fine china. A lazy stroll from our accommodation is The Hay Water Tower. Did you know Hay has more WW2 soldiers per capita than any country town in Australia? So this cylindrical memorial commemorates five Hay servicemen and women and is part of the Australian Silo Art Trail collective. It’s here we meet South Australian grey nomads in their $165,000 RV, exploring NSW via these silos. (We had no idea these RVs were so pricey!) We chat about life on the road in a luxury RV. Not sure about the depreciation on these RVs. But why not spend the kid’s inheritance?
After a visit to Bishops Lodge and Shear Outback – an excellent interpretative centre devoted to shearers and larrikins of the bush - we visit Hay Gaol, built-in 1878. Now a funky museum, it holds a miscellany of local artefacts. Here I feel a chill strolling through the gaol cells and the lingering presence of its former denizens. A curious building, the complex is a palimpsest
Fast Facts
The Bank Bed & Breakfast 86 Lachlan St, Hay NSW 2711 M: 0422 176 709 E: hello@bankbedandbreakfast.com.au www.bankbedandbreakfast.com.au
Prison Van
Silo at Hay
of its erstwhile tenants: maternity hospital, hospital for the insane, prisoner of war detention centre, institute for girls (up until the 1970s). It’s the latter that I find the most moving. These girls were treated like 19th century Norfolk Island convicts: eyes to the floor, solitary confinement and punished for the smallest breach of protocol. Lost teenage girls at risk of “moral danger” or deemed “uncontrollable” by the governing patriarchy.
Later we meet Sally Smith (Shelia’s mum) pedalling up to the Bank B&B on her vintage pushbike. This spritely septuagenarian has recently restored an Australian icon: The One Tree Hotel. She offers to take us there for a stickybeak.
Built in 1862 (nee “Finch’s Public House”) it was perched near a large gum tree (the tree was destroyed in a storm in 1900) on an otherwise treeless plain stretching from Hay to Booligal, it became the inspiration of the aforementioned poetry of Paterson and later prose of Lawson; ‘One Tree’ often being referred to as ‘Hell’. The tiny bar of this hotel is still the same as it must have been in the 1800s. Sally’s passionate about the old timber hotel but laments thieves stealing the fittings, like hurricane lamps, even an old table that was screwed to the floor! There’s an eerie presence as we walk around the property, with the low whistle of the wind across the plains and the metronome of a chain upon a steel gate. It underscores the loneliness of the bush and these Cobb & Co trade routes. Indeed the old restored coach in the centre of town says, “licensed to carry 19 passengers”. Ouch!
The hotel is of simple split Murray River Pine log construction with verandas on three sides and a hipped corrugated iron roof. It comprises a kitchen at the rear and Shelia’s restored period bedrooms to the side. Internally, the simple joinery and some original fittings remain, like a wood stove. The cattle yards and stables are long gone. One of the more eccentric residents was Emu
Annie – who would run like a startled emu into the scrub anytime a man appeared at the door. Poor dear, I wonder what appalling thing happened to her to make her react this way. Anyway, the hotel was a thriving business until the licence lapsed in 1942. The McQuade family remained and lived off the few sheep they owned. After the death of their mother, Frank McQuade and his sister, Gladys, lived at the old hotel until Gladys retired to Melbourne. Frank lived in the hotel until he passed away in 1995. Gladys eventually sold the property – then in a state of disrepair – to Sally.
Sally’s period renovation is exemplary and an inspiration for any senior. Like her daughter Shelia, she has a good eye for vintage. Sally had visions of turning it into an events venue or unique B&B but the distance from town made this impractical. So if you’d like a complete change of scenery, and have a lazy 300k, it’s for sale. But I do hope the council buys it. It would make a unique museum or a fabulous writer’s retreat.
Fast Facts
Sunset viewing area
www.thelongpaddock.com.au Storytelling is a tradition in the bush. From tales of stolen cattle to the life of a drover, Long Paddock’s unique new App brings the tall tales, tragedies and triumphs of outback history to life – right on your phone. You get to jump in the driver’s seat as an interactive map guides you to locations where the Long Paddock will come alive. Simply download the App, follow the instructions and take home your very own collection of stories. The App will give you an insight into each location and leave you with a great yarns to spin around the campfire.
