The Meningie Hotel, Meningie on Lake Albert, South Australia
When Ben Reusch arrived in Meningie in 2015 on his fourth
hotel resuscitation mission the town’s pub was on life support.
“This was my biggest
challenge. There were pigeons living on the verandah and in some of the
upstairs rooms, the bottle shop wasn't working because the roller shutter door was
jammed and there were nine full-to-the-brim 30 cubic metre skip bins out the
back including one with 28 broken televisions.”
He attacked on two levels: Upstairs he replaced all the
broken windows, turfed out the pigeons upstairs and made the eight guest rooms
liveable.
Downstairs he fixed the roller door, replaced the beer pipes
and the carpet, fixed the plumbing throughout and gave it all a fresh coat of
paint. There’re now eight beers on tap and the re-furbed dining room serves dinner
every night and lunch Wed to Sun. A very decent bar menu is available every
day. The house special is local Coorong Mullet (have it grilled!)
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| Publican Ben with his racing mower. |
“We wanted to get the
pub back to being the heart of the town, the hub of the community, for friends
to meet and families to enjoy and I we’ve made progress but we’re not close to
finishing.”
Once it all began to hum, Ben looked for magnets to bring
more people to the town. The pub re-purchased a big block of adjoining land out
the back - land which had been part of the original lease in 1867 and then Ben,
a long term petrol-head shared his dream with some locals.
When they called him crazy, Ben showed them
some Youtube
videos of what he had planned and this convinced them. In June 2017 the
Meningie Hotel hosted its first annual ride-on mower racing championships. |
| A very early courtesy bus. This place seems to have a term affinity with engines. |
“I wasn't at all sure how it’d all go – whether people would
show up or whether it’d be a disaster,” reflects the publican, smiling over his
drink at the end of a long day."
He needn’t have worried. Over 600 people crammed in to watch
over 65 mowers race around the track marked out on the new block out the back.
The caterers, who’d been more confident had still underestimated demand and
sold out in 90 minutes.
Hay bales were brought in as safety barriers and at day’s
end were distributed to the area’s farmers. Over $6,000.00 was given to local
charities.
“It was just mind
blowing. Race day was Sunday of the long weekend. On the Saturday the Caravan
Park has a Rock and Roll day so people came from all over for the two days and then
recovered or headed home on Monday.”
 |
| A bunch of very suss locals |
A very serious team of mower racers from WA took out the top
prize in the Open Division where mowers are highly modified with 450cc
motorcycle engines and special tyres and have top speeds of around 150kph.
Out in the old stables behind the pub, Ben is working on
next year’s mower using a 400cc Yamaha race bike engine. It’s one of half a dozen local special builds
for the 2019 races which have won
designation as the SA State Championships.
“The great thing about
this is not just the success of the day and the money it brings the town. It’s
the way organising it and hosting it draws the community together. The people
on the committee can’t wait to begin next year’s planning and the town can’t
wait to watch it again.”
As Ben speaks he’s suddenly grabbed in a headlock and kissed
on the cheek by a
“What his bloke has
done for this town can’t be described. He’s a magic person who's set the town
alight, made the pub a breathing centre for the town” he gushes as an
opener.
Steve ‘Sticky’ Ayres, whose 78 year old father, Ronnie,
still plays in the pub’s darts team, is a fourth generation Meningie native but
reckons that’s no claim to fame: “My grand-daughter,”
he boasts, “is sixth generation. Our
family’s been here almost as long as the pub.”
Impressive, but it doesn't stack up against the lineage of the
town’s most popular resident. These are the traditional lands of the Ngarrindjeri
people and Derrick Gollan,
He was born 30 minutes away on the shore of Lake Alexandrina
at Raukkan, home of the church which features on the $50.00 note and a lifetime
mostly spent here and 17 years as a ranger on the Coorong has left this gentle
74 year old with a complete love and understanding of the land and the respect
of everyone who meets him.
Uncle D explains his history and his connection with the
Coorong and the lower lakes and their meaning for his people. Then he switches
to his host.
“A bit after Ben came
to the pub his daughter came to visit and I told her that many years ago I had
a favourite song by Michael Jackson called, “I have a friend called Ben” and I
told her she should be proud because we all love Ben around here.”
By reviving the Meningie Hotel, Ben Reusch hasn't just
restored the pub’s heartbeat, he’s defibrillated the entire community.
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