Faced with the sobering prospect of losing the local pub, the small community of Grong Grong in southern NSW has raised more than $1 million dollars to buy it themselves.
The Royal Hotel, built in 1875, stands just off the busy Newell Highway, but when it was put up for sale in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic there was little interest from potential buyers.
Grong Grong local Gemma Purcell was part of a small group that hatched a plan to save it.
"We knew that no-one was going to walk in a with a quarter of a million dollars to purchase a little country pub," she said.
"We felt there was a chance to spread that risk in a cooperative, a unit trust, or a whole lot of shareholders and have enough interest at a low level to spread the risk and buy the pub."
The aim was to raise $500,000 and people were offered the chance to invest with a minimum shareholding of $5,000.
The response was overwhelming, with 169 shareholders investing more than $1m.
"We weren't sure if it was going to work," Ms Purcell said.
"We weren't sure if we were going to raise what we needed to even just purchase the pub, let alone paint it or renovate it, so we were just floored with the response."
More than somewhere to get a beer
Most of the shareholders are locals or people with a connection to the village.
Grain grower and sheep producer Adam Ferguson signed up to make sure the pub stayed open.
"It's where you meet up to talk about what's going on, what we should be doing on-farm, prices," he said.
Lorraine Gawne is a teetotaller but says the pub is of tremendous value to the community.
"We've realised it's not just the drink — it's the friendship, it's the fellowship, it's the commitment to your town that draws you and keeps you together," she said.
"We've lost the school, we've lost the police station, we've lost the railway station.
"I think that's why everyone's rallied — if we lost the pub, Grongy is dead and we don't want that to happen.
Fighting a 'narrative of rural decline'
Ms Purcell hopes the initiative can be used as a model for investment by other small communities.
"I think that one thing people feel in rural Australia is that they are quite powerless in that narrative of rural decline and it's been used as an rational to withdraw services — infrastructure, health and education," she said.
"I think at a community level you have to back yourself, not be frightened to do it and don't expect anyone else to do it for you."
Cynthia Mitchell, an emeritus professor from the Institute of Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney, invested for two reasons.
She had a personal connection to Grong Grong as well as a desire to support the community-led revival.
"It's practical and it's doable and it has potential for other kinds of assets," Dr Mitchell said.
"It's about a community and the broader community – people like me – stepping up to invest in something that will generate a whole lot of value."
Investing time as well as cash
Buying the pub was just the first step — local shareholders gathered for working bees to give it a face lift before reopening.
"I think everyone in town, whether they've put in money, or time, or donated something, they feel as if they own a little chunk of this real estate," Ms Purcell said.
Mr Ferguson said all the hard work made the first beer all the more refreshing.
"We have done this together," he said.
"The town has pulled together and we've pulled this off."
