Address & Contact
202-419 Daroo St
Birdsville QLD 4482
Phone: N/A
Email: N/A
Web: N/A
Betoota,
population 0. stands alone in the middle of a vast gibber plain170 km east of
Birdsville and 227 km west of
Windorah.
The town has a checkered history starting in the last 1800s, when it was initially surveyed as a customs post for government collection of tolls from drovers using the stock route to transport cattle to market. This practice continued until Federation in 1901. During that time, Betoota operated a
police station, courthouse, grocery store,
post office and 3 hotels.
The town was all but abandoned when the government allowed a free trade policy that meant customs collection was no longer needed. Simon Remienko, Betoota's sole resident, keep the
Betoota Hotel running until ill health forced him to move away in 1997. The iconic
Betoota Hotel ownership fell into the hands of Diamantina Shire icons David Brook & Kym Fort who kept it preserved but closed.
Twice a year the town bounces back to life for the Betoota Gymkhana, which includes a motorbike event on the first weekend after
Easter, and the Betoota Races on the last Saturday in August.
Just after the 2014 Betoota Races, one of the locals got the idea to reinvent the local newsletter, the Betoota Advocate in the online world. It's now become a satirical publication that is widely popular
as a leading source of Australian-centric news.
And then something changed in Betoota... In 2017 Robert “Robbo” Haken "bought" the
Betoota Hotel with dreams of reopening it on the edge of the tourism boom. After 2 years of renovations, the first beers were poured in March 2020 only to be swiftly closed again due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Fortunately, the pub reopened again in July 2020 and business is booming on the back of the nation's biggest caravanning and camping boom in history, bringing the outback alive with people looking for something a bit unique.