These two women own an entire Queensland town. They're selling it for $400,000

Carol Yarrow (left) and Jo Cornel took a leap of faith in the name of adventure when they bought what is believed to be Australia's smallest town, Cooladdi, in 2023. They've had a blast and done their three years but have now decided to sell the town to someone else. Photo: Supplied

Residents list entire Queensland town Cooladdi for sale for $400,000

Dan F. Stapleton|14 hours ago

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Carol Yarrow laughed when a friend called her in early 2023 and suggested she buy the town of Cooladdi in central Queensland.

“I thought: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ But Jo and I decided to take a look anyway,” she says.

Yarrow’s friend Jo Cornel had been mulling a tree change, and Yarrow, who was working in motel management, had grown up not too far from Cooladdi.

So, the pair drove nine hours inland from Brisbane to size up the town.

“It’s on the edge of the outback, full of mulga trees and red dirt,” Yarrow says.

Evidence of Cooladdi's train station, which was closed down last century. Photo: Supplied

Cooladdi, postcode 4479, was once a bustling outpost with close to 300 residents.

But when the town’s train station, police station and school closed late last century, its population dwindled.

When Yarrow and Cornell arrived, all that remained was the Fox Trap Roadhouse, which also functions as a post office, motel and general store.

Cooladdi, they were told, was now technically Australia’s smallest town.

“It was the roadhouse that was for sale, but the roadhouse was the town,” Yarrow explains.

The Fox Trap in Cooladdi is, in fact, the town itself. Photo: Supplied

“When we saw it, we thought: ‘Let’s give this a go.’ We decided we’d live here for three years.”

Three years have now elapsed, and the Fox Trap is back on the market for a cool $400,000.

Whoever takes it over will have plenty to do, says listing agent Becky Jeisman from Charleville Real Estate.

“Cooladdi is surrounded by large stations with lots of station hands, and it has the only facilities within about a 100-kilometre radius. The Fox Trap is the lifeblood of the community.”

The buyer will operate the only diesel and unleaded petrol tanks in the area and be responsible for two twice-weekly mail deliveries.

The Fox Trap in Cooldaddi – watering hole, servo, post office, accommodation and food source. Photo: Supplied

Four motel rooms, the general store and the roadhouse kitchen all need to be maintained, too.

“There’s not a lot of time for sitting around,” Yarrow says. “If you’re not stocking fridges or making steak sangers, you’re changing beds or doing yard work. You’ve got to wear a few different hats.”

Running this town also requires a fair amount of socialising.

“Anyone who’s driving past nearly always stops in for a chinwag and a coffee or a cold drink,” Yarrow says.

Those passers-by include a steady stream of truckers, grey nomads and, over summer, families in campervans.

“In the evenings, quite a few locals rock in for a beer,” Yarrow adds. “We usually kick back and have a couple of drinks with whoever’s in.”

The vibes are high inside the Fox Trap at Cooladdi.

In addition to the main roadhouse building, the Foxt Trap’s next owner gets a four-bedroom house and a standalone cabin, all contained on a 5000-square-metre block.

There’s bore water, mains power and high-speed internet for tree changers concerned about leaving city comforts behind.

“I think it would ideally suit two sets of empty nesters who could share the work and have a good work-life balance, or a group of younger people who could bring some real energy to the area and run events as well,” Jeisman says.

“I could also see a family settling here quite happily and living a country lifestyle, with the kids doing distance education and riding horses and dirt bikes.”

Yarrow says letting go of Cooladdi is bittersweet.