I’ve always wanted a pub — not just any pub, but a country pub. I grew up on a sheep and cattle property at Springsure, QLD, before rolling my swag and heading off to Longreach Pastoral College quite a while ago now — even though it just feels like yesterday.

That’s where it all began. This country gets in your blood — it’s only taken 30 years to make it back. Just took the long way round, that’s all.

I pretty much married the boy next door — well, not quite next door, but pretty close. You know how in Australia they say “down the road”? Well, he lived about an hour down the road. We spent our early years together on a cattle property between Clermont and Charters Towers before heading to the mighty Burdekin for six weeks in 1995, with earthmoving machinery in tow, as the new irrigation farms were being developed.

Six weeks turned into 20 years, two children, and a life of sugar cane farming — and the rest is history.

When my parents purchased “Newstead,” a rural property just 10 minutes from the pub, no one was going to be living there — a golden opportunity to sell up and move west. We visited and stayed at the pub. I remember saying, “I love this place! How awesome is this pub?” Anything to convince Paul, my husband, that it was a good idea.

On 7 October 2016, we officially purchased the Wellshot Hotel — a dream come true. We can create the place, but you create the atmosphere — well, that’s my theory anyway.

The Wellshot Hotel has even been referred to as “The Crab Pot.” Once you’re in, you can’t get out! The bloke who said that was only staying for one night and ended up staying for four.

So come see for yourself!

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Tracy Hatch - Publican