By Lynette and Ian Evans
WE were married 54 years ago in Camberwell, Melbourne. We lived in Victoria until our decision to come to Queensland for family reasons in 2020.
Ian worked in the bank for ten years and Lynette was an office worker. We entered our first hotel in Wangaratta in 1979 with longtime friends, Rod and Marie. Rod and Marie were the youngest people to be granted a liquor licence. This was the beginning of a totally different lifestyle in the hospitality industry. We stayed in Wangaratta for three and half years and enjoyed the lifestyle greatly.
After this time, we decided to travel Australia in our caravans. Travelling was great and we broadened our horizons. We travelled from Broken Hill to Queensland via Packsaddle, Wilcannia and Cobar where we learned to play ‘Two Up’ on Anzac Day. We travelled slowly up the Queensland Coast to Cairns. Along the way we explored the area and visited the islands.
At Cairns, we left our caravans and camped our way up to Cape York. Remember there were no sealed roads in the early 1980s, only deep wash outs and bridges built with tree trunks. We ventured across to Weipa using an old army truck from World War 2. At the same time, a truck was delivering cool room equipment for a supermarket in Weipa. He just bashed through trees and bushes. Prior to this, they shipped equipment around the Cape.
Then we went up to the Cape visiting small towns on the way. There was one pub in a town with an honesty system as the publican went missing frequently, in another, a butchery made of wire mesh. At one town a truck brought down several electricity poles, so no electricity for a few days. Another town had horse races with only two horses in some races.
We caught barramundi in the Jardine River for dinner before crossing the river to Bamaga and the tip of Australia. All the while, we were on the lookout for crocodiles and snakes. We also stocked upon red wine flagons in Cairns and cooled them off in creeks and rivers as we travelled. The Jardine was about 40 metres wide at the crossing. We did not take our vehicles but used the local aboriginal vehicle.
After this, we travelled to Darwin via Normanton and Karumba. Normanton had a purple hotel in the heart of the town. Karumba is a prawn port and at that time, it was a very rough town. On our travels to Darwin, we lost three tyres from the heat on the road. We scavenged at a tip for tyre rims to make it to the next town.
At Darwin, we managed the Berrimah Hotel for twelve months which was a working man’s hotel. In the early 80s, Darwin was a town with a mixed population from everywhere. Ian found it very challenging at the Berrimah Hotel with its many indigenous people.
After a year in Darwin, we travelled back to Melbourne via the west coast and across the Nullabor. The northern part of Western Australia was untouched and raw. Lynette took her sewing machine around Australia and did not even use it!
Back in Melbourne, we resumed working in hospitality for many years. Overall, Ian worked in fourteen pubs and clubs including leases and management.
