Hotel from Crocodile Dundee sells after three years on the market
The Walkabout Creek Hotel in outback Queensland, made famous across the world by the Crocodile Dundee films, has sold for an undisclosed figure.
If the Walkabout Creek Hotel's walls could talk, they would have more than 120 years of tales to tell.
For many, the outback pub is famous for its featured role in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee.
But for locals in the tiny town of McKinlay, just over 200kms from Mount Isa, it is the pub, the bottle-o, the caravan park and the post office.
Supplied/Angus Brodie
And now, after being on the market since 2022, it has changed hands.
McKinlay-born Angus Brodie and wife Jo Cranney bought the Walkabout Creek Hotel for an undisclosed figure, settling the deal yesterday.
Prior owners Deb and Frank Wurst put the pub on the market so they could retire, after being at the helm for 11 years.
From childhood memories to pouring his first beer
Grazier Angus Brodie, 33, grew up in McKinlay, where the hotel is the central hub for the town's 160 residents.
"I have memories running around with all the other kids, sneaking a packet of chips and a soft drink," Brodie said.
"Sometimes we'd take our sleeping bags and have a sleepover until it was time to go home."
The new owner had never poured a beer before last week but is ready for the challenge.
"The first beer I poured, I think there was half a glass of frothy head, and the second beer had absolutely no head at all," he laughed.
"I wasn't off to a real good start, but I promise I've turned things around now."
Cranney, 34, grew up in Goondiwindi but moved to Mount Isa to be a nurse, where the two met.
They now run a cattle property 30 minutes away from the pub with their two children and a baby due in April.
The couple bought the pub to diversify their business and have an alternative income stream when the weather and cattle markets aren't favourable.
"In a drought, people probably drink more beer," Brodie said.
The couple hopes to take a farm-to-table approach, selling their beef at the pub.
"That's one thing we're pretty keen to do, showcase our beef and have that on the menu," Brodie said.
The Walkabout was originally built as The Federal Hotel in 1900.
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Pub 'in fantastic condition'
Decorated with memorabilia, the Walkabout Creek Hotel is beloved by locals and tourists alike.
The new owners are not planning to change much and are grateful to the prior owners for keeping it in "fantastic condition".
"It's a credit to Frank and Debbie. They've really looked after it over the 11 years they've been there," Brodie said.
Wurst said he and Debbie would miss the pub when they announced their retirement plans in 2022.
"I'm really going to miss the people out here — there are so many great characters," he said.
Frank and Debbie Wurst ran the pub in McKinlay for 11 years.
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40 years of Dundee
In 1986, Crocodile Dundee was the highest-grossing film of all time in Australia.
Built in 1900 and licensed in 1901, the real-world Walkabout Creek Hotel is three times as old as the movie that made it famous, and was originally called the Federation Hotel.
The bar used on the film set was donated to the pub after filming, and is now located out the back in the beer garden.
Tourists come from far and wide to snap photos with the movie memorabilia.
Next year, it will be 40 years since the release of Crocodile Dundee, and the new owners plan to mark the occasion.
"We will have to do something, that's for sure," Brodie said.
"It's a crucial part of the identity of the pub, and we love it."
