The Pub Route, a soon to be released tourism brochure, invites travellers to take a pub crawl to explore some of the west’s most iconic pubs.
The booklet is an initiative of the Far North West Joint Organisation (FNWJO) and covers the shires of Cobar, Bourke and Walgett.
The Pub Route explores the watering holes of the west, where ‘The Pub’ is more than just a place to have a beer—it’s the lifeblood of many towns and a welcoming spot for locals and travellers alike.
Project coordinator, Bourke resident, Andrew Hull, explained The Pub Route idea came from the FNWJO tourism marketing strategy in 2020 which aimed to identify great things to do in the bush, things that all three shires had in common.
“We’ve dug deep into the history,” Mr Hull said.
After identifying there were over 300 pubs across the three councils, it was from there that the idea of The Pub Route came about.
“There’s a lot of interest in old pubs because part of the history of a region can be told through those old pubs,” he said.
From their study, Mr Hull said another tourism aspect the three shires had in common was the lack of a consistent digital media presence.
He said the use of quality digital images, a better digital presence, more videos and enabling more access through phones were all identified as a need in each shire.
Mr Hull gathered together a digital marketing expert and a researcher to work with him on the project.
He explained The Pub Route trails have been broken up into a couple of loops.
“There’s no point sending people on a wild goose chase out into the bush if there’s nothing to see when they get there,” he said.
The booklet suggests a number of different routes to take through the three shires and it they link up old, former pubs with existing, and still operating pubs, in each shire.
Mr Hull said as part of the roll out of the project there will be road signage, social media messages, videos and QR codes that offer more historical information at various locations.
Cobar Shire’s pubs feature in The Two Rivers Route (from Cobar to Louth, Fords Bridge and Bourke) and also The Copper Route which takes you from Cobar through Canbelego to Nymagee, down to Euabalong, across to Mount Hope, and back to Cobar.
The booklet outlines 18 historical pubs in Cobar, the first of which was the bark-roofed Cobar Hotel which was built in the 1870s before the town had been surveyed and laid out.
Only four of those 18 hotel buildings still stand, the Empire in Barton Street, the Great Western Hotel and Grand Hotel in Marshall Street and the Court House Hotel (opposite the Court House) on the corner of Barton and Broomfield streets.
Only the Great Western and Empire hotels are still operating.
The Pub Route covers the history of six hotels and a brewery in Nymagee, four hotels in Mount Hope, the pubs of Shuttleton, Wrightville and Dapville, the Gilgunnia Hotel, the Meryula Hotel and many more.
