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Date: September 2006
Location: Cracow, Queensland Australia
I’m sorry Fred, but I had imagined an older man. Having long heard of the legendary Fred Brophy and his boxing troupe I had just assumed the man behind the name was well…. older! Not the larger than life 50 something that he is!
Fred’s boxing troupe is the last tent of its kind in the world and they were about the head off to the Birdsville Races, but the purpose of this visit was to spend a night at the archetypal country pub he and his wife Sandi run - the Cracow (pronounced cracko) Hotel. Sandi found the pub five years ago and decided it was perfect as the bones for her dream of the quintessential Australian pub!
Accommodation is in typical country hotel-style rooms with a door onto the hall and French doors out onto the wide verandah that ambles around the building.
Each room features comfortable beds, stylish bed linen and an eclectic mix of renovated desks and dressers. Look behind the door or on the curtain rod over the doors and you’ll find a fur coat – part of the furniture. Fred delighted in telling us about the man who checked in and came running down with one the coats, worried that the guest before him had left it behind.
For the princely sum of $45 per person night ($55 with a cooked breakfast) you can enjoy the comfort of these rooms and the fantastic experience that comes with a night in the pub – including the dogs on the verandahs and the utes out the front! In true pub style bathrooms are shared and there are two at the end of the hall. Time moves leisurely here so no need to rush – your turn will come!
Then there’s the ghost. The corner bedroom at the front of the hotel is supposedly haunted by the ghost of an unfaithful wife whose husband killed her and her lover in flagrante when he shot a rifle through the ceiling of the foyer into their bed in the room above. Luckily no ghosts showed that night!
Sandi is currently renovating more rooms in another wing of the hotel for further accommodation. As Fred puts it – she is responsible for the renovations upstairs and he looks after downstairs.
Unlike Fred the township of Cracow was as anticipated. Located 154km south east of Biloela, Cracow was once a prosperous gold mining town that turned into a ghost-town when the mine closed in 1976. Crowding is not an issue in this town of 20 or so permanent residents (a total of 75 including those in surrounding areas) and inhabited houses share the streets with derelict buildings from the good ol’ days.
The main street still contains some of the old stores – some now converted into homes and others forlornly empty. But look hard enough and the signs on the shop fronts will come to life!
So what do you do in Cracow? Well you make the most of your time there. Spend a few hours reading the messages all over the walls and ceilings of the bar and checking out the collection of memorabilia adorning the walls – from rabbit traps and spurs to photos of Fred’s troupe in action and the Brophy family on the road.
Business is booming at the pub because the Newcrest Gold Mine has reopened and the boys keep the kitchens busy with their healthy appetites. Some stay in-house and the others are at the camp up the road.
There are also the locals to meet when they come into town from nearby farms, and a colourful collection of backpackers – female of course, whom Sandi recruits to help out at the pub – behind the bar, in the kitchen and with all the other day to day duties of running the pub.
The food is fantastic – simple but very tasty fare. As well as a few blackboard selections, we had Fred’s Roast Pork special ($11) and it almost beat all of us because of its sheer size. When you are feeding hungry miners just in from their 12-hour shift the supply needs to be plentiful. The sauces live in a communal tray and the juice jug is passed around between the tables so it’s just like eating as members of a huge family except you don’t have to wash up afterwards.
There’s another secret to Cracow, and it’s not the location. It’s the beach about 15km out of town on the road to Theodore. A sandy reach of the Dawson River surrounded green Livistonia tree palms which stand out in stark contrast to the brittle silvers of the surrounding countryside. Cracow Beach is a popular getaway for locals and backpackers working in the pub, and for the occasional camper who passes through.
If you can spare the time and heading bush is your thing, take the time to visit the Cracow Pub. Maybe the clown who stole the L and part of the W from the sign will have returned it by then!
Getting there:
To reach Cracow take the Theodore or Taroom turns off the Leichhardt Highway.
Qantaslink flies regularly to Gladstone. For more information visit www.gladstoneholidays.info or call the pub on (07) 49937118.
- By Adrienne Costin
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