Can a consortium save Willaura’s $920k pub and 32-ensuite room package?

Agent Adam Walker, of Ray White Ararat, says the pub ceased operating as a hotel around 10 to 15 years ago, before being acquired by a company linked to a nickel mining project in Stavely, which repurposed the site solely for worker accommodation.

“It was never run as a pub during that time – it was purely accommodation,” Walker says.

That ownership period saw significant capital invested in the construction of four high-quality, eight bedroom dongas, delivering a total of 32 ensuite rooms with air-conditioning, along with laundries and fully serviced infrastructure – a fit-out Walker describes as “huge” and costly to replicate today.

“They’re all powered, water, sewer – there’s a lot to what’s been done there,” he says.

With the mining operation winding up, the property is on the market, presenting what Walker says is a rare but complex opportunity in a town with basic local services, community facilities and regional connectivity, including a supermarket, primary school and post office.

“It’s a classic old building…it’d be great to see someone get in there and have deep pockets to get it operational again,” he says. 

The 3523-square-metre site includes the original red brick Victorian-style hotel, branded with bold typography and a green wraparound verandah, featuring a public bar, several lounge and dining areas, a commercial kitchen and a large outdoor space.

Walker says the most compelling precedent for the pub’s revival may be found just 18 kilometres away in Maroona, where a group of 88 local farmers and landowners recently purchased and reopened the village pub after a 10-year closure.

“A consortium of farmers bought that pub and did it up, just so they had a proper local watering hole again,” he says. “That model could work here.”

The Maroona Hotel, located about half way between Willaura and Ararat, and 230 kilometres west of Melbourne, reopened this week after six months of extensive cosmetic renovations including a new bar, kitchen, plastering, carpets and refreshed toilets.

The community feared the hotel would be lost permanently – as had occurred in Willaura, Wickliffe and Buangor – if they didn’t intervene. 

After owning the property for 20 years, the vendor was keen to sell but was determined to act in the town’s best interests, reportedly turning away buyers who intended to convert the pub solely into accommodation. 

Now, the Maroona Hotel is operated by a couple who run an established catering business, supported by a local committee of management, with shared risk and investment crucial to keeping the village heart beating in the face of rising costs and dwindling single-owner interest. 

Consortium-style pub buy-ins have played out in other Victorian towns such as Nandaly, Dingee and Castlemaine, where pooled local investment has been used to revive pubs that could not attract a standalone buyer.

While Willaura itself is a small community – though much larger than Maroona – Walker says the scale of the accommodation opens alternative pathways beyond a traditional pub-only operation, such as tourism.

“If you wanted to set up a tourism operation, you could get the pub running, and run accommodation for the Grampians,” he says.

The property would also lend itself to outdoor events, caravan parking of further development, subject to council approval.

Walker says while the extensive accommodation component underpins the pricing, which may in turn narrow the buyer pool, it also creates long-term upside.

“If it didn’t have the dongas, it would be a much cheaper pub,” he adds. “But on the other side, they create a great opportunity – you just need the right buyer.

“It would be great to see it brought back to life.”