Making friends in the Outback

Heather Cameron. runs the Lower Lila Retreat on the banks of the Warrego River. Photo TWH

‘Stay in the Outback with friends’ is the motto of Outback Beds, an alternative accommodation group that was established in 2002.

Outback Beds was formed by landholders primarily as a source of supplementary income during difficult farming times.

Over the past 20 years, the group has grown and now hosts accommodation in a range of sites including caravan parks, station stays, boutique hotels, farm stays, family run pubs, B&Bs, motels and a few things in between!

Denise Stalley from Rossmore Station, which incorporates Mount Oxley, was at the initial meeting and is now the Membership Officer of the growing organisation.

“The initial workshop was called by the New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development, Tourism New South Wales, and the Bourke Rural Counselling service. It was on business opportunities in agri-tourism,” Denise said.

“We discovered a lot of property owners had shearers’ huts and other buildings that weren’t used for most of the year, so we came up with the idea of using station buildings as accommodation.

“It was our first attempt at diversifying during the millennium drought, when things were really tough.” […]

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