A stop, a shop and a bush pub

Anna and Jay “Bluey” Gook outside the Oasis Hotel at Enngonia. Photo: Beverley-Callow

Story and photos by Beverley Callow

After 40 years managing cattle stations in the Northern Territory, the new owners of the Oasis Hotel at Enngonia decided to do something different.

Meet Jay and Anna Gook who took over the pub premises last July.

“A lot of people call me Bluey”, said Jay, who grew up in a small town in Queensland.

The Oasis Hotel sits at the start of the small town of Enngonia – or at the dead end – depending which way you’re heading – on the Mitchell Highway, between Bourke and Cunnamulla.

Travelling between the Northern Territory and family in Queensland, Jay and Anna had passed through Enngonia several times when road closures forced them to take the long way around.

The pub had been sale for a few years before they stopped and had a look. Thinking it would be a change in a “slow, sleepy little place”, they decided to run the hotel, with the idea that it would be reasonably easy to learn.

However, it has been a steep learning curve, Anna said. “It’s been busy.” With the pub open from 8am until late every day, Jay said they’ve had “a lot of big nights and big days”.

The town’s population of 80 people means the hotel relies on travellers, truck drivers, shearing teams and station people to provide it with business. But, being on a crossroads to the east, west, north and south, Jay said, keeps the hotel busy. […]

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