IT TAKES just a band of locals and the odd stray to drive the old Railway Hotel, writes SANDRA GODWIN
It's not on a road to anywhere in particular, but somehow people keep finding their way to the Railway Hotel at Wychitella, in northern Victoria.
Surrounded by rolling farm land dotted with sheep and cattle, the hotel is 18km north of Wedderburn.
First built in 1882, the weatherboard pub has outlasted every other business in the town, which was developed to service the railway line between Bendigo and Wycheproof.
Apart from a new sign, air-conditioning units, television antennas and the unmistakable round CUB sign on the corrugated-iron roof, the hotel looks much the same from the street as it did in photos taken almost a century ago.
However, the town has changed markedly with the school closing in 1971, the town's sporting clubs folding about the same time and the last passenger train stopped there in May, 1977.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, by 2006 Wychitella had fewer than 120 residents.
Dave McHattan and two mates bought the pub in 1998 after seeing it advertised in The Weekly Times.
Fortunately, the pub has a core of loyal customers who are regular enough to allow Mr McHattan to pay the bills, keep the doors open and stay busy.
"It was too small for three (owners), but you can make a living for one," he said.
"I know who walks in the door, 99 times out of 100. I get a few strangers popping in."
Mr McHattan said he had no idea how old the building was, but he had spent a lot of time renovating it during the past 12 years.
"I think it's burnt down a few times," he said.
"I really couldn't tell you how old the building is. But I know when the store burnt down they miraculously saved the records and (customers) got their bills at the end of the week."
A history of the town prepared for its 1982 centenary celebrations says the hotel and neighbouring general store were built in 1882 by English migrant Thomas Hindson, who lived at Wychitella until his death at the "ripe old age of 101" after fathering nine sons and two daughters.
Despite sustaining severe damage in 1903 the hotel continued to trade under Mr Hindson - who was licensee for 27 years - during the rebuilding process.
A framed honour roll on the wall of the front bar lists the names of all 33 of the hotel's licensees and describes how it almost closed in 1959.
The Railway was saved by a group of customers and district farmers who established a syndicate which kept the doors open and the beer flowing until new owners were found several years later.
Mr McHattan said his main job was "sitting in the bar having a quiet drink with the locals", although he also provides meals and accommodation for the occasional boarder.
He refuses to take holidays, because he doesn't trust anyone to run the pub for an extended period.
"If something went wrong they'd probably just close the door; kick everybody out," he said.
"You've got to know how to deal with people."
Mr McHattan, who worked as a nurse at the former Lakeside psychiatric hospital in Ballarat, said there was little difference between psychiatric patients who had their medication cut back and a bar full of drunken customers.
He said he planned to continue the renovations over the next five years.
"It grows on you after a while, you get to know everybody, although sometimes that's not good. But I've got nothing to whinge about."
