Hay, Hell and
Booligal WORDS BY DORIAN MODE. PHOTOGRAPHY LYDIA THORPE
One Tree Hotel
T
he NSW town of Hay is so flat that if you stand on a milkcrate you can see Mudgee. But this makes it the ideal place to imbibe a glorious outback sunset. So after collecting a Sundowner Pack of nibbles from Kinfolk & Co, Hay’s newest café, we make a beeline for ‘the viewing area’. Here we catch up with Alison McLean, whom we met 10 years ago when we were last in Hay. I often wondered how Ali and her farmer husband survived the drought in the isolated town of Booligal (70 clicks out of Hay). Indeed, Booligal’s such a tough town, Banjo immortalised it in his poem, Hay, Hell and Booligal. Upon the district and the town – Which worse than hell itself they call: In fact, the saying far and wide Along the Riverina side Is ‘Hay and Hell and Booligal’. Alison says they only survived by switching from merinos to Dorper – a South African breed of domestic sheep primarily used for meat. Ali works part-time for Hay tourism and those clever people at Long Paddock, a tourist
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initiative tracing the Cobb & Co Highway Touring Route. Against a lingering sunset - like an upturned glass of mango juice - Ali shows me their latest virtual storytelling app where historic characters chat with you at various signposts – wonderful for engaging kids in history. In passing, I mention we are staying at The Bank B&B in Hay. She says the current owner, Shelia, underscores the “new Hay”. Sheila Smith recently returned to Hay during lock down from Melbourne, where she ran/runs a successful interior design business. Her business is now housed below The Bank B&B, once her family home. Built-in 1891, said Bank was The London Chartered Bank. In 1942 it was taken over by Goldsborough Mort before housing three generations of the Smith family (not the charity). Moreover, with Shelia’s striking resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter, you’ll think you’ve stepped into a Merchant Ivory film, with the Bank B&B’s Victorian aesthetic and juxtaposition of grandeur and contemporary stylings. Shelia has a great eye for vintage chic. Psst! I can never understand why people choose a Norman Bates-esque Motel when for a
