Muckadilla’s 'Mucka Bup' sells for $1.2m as new owners build bottle shop
The sign above the door still reads Mucka Bup, not Pub, and the heavy timber beams, Chesterfield lounges and fireplace offer familiar comforts – but there is someone new splashing about in the outback pub’s swimming pool.
Former country footballer and experienced publican Lyal Midgley had already taken a dip beside the beer garden before settling on the western Queensland pub he and his wife, Lisa, have bought for $1.2 million.
He’d also helped cover a busy night’s service alongside the agent who brokered the deal, Scott Williams, of SGW Hotel Broker, and outgoing publican Christy Coomber on the eve of the transaction.
At 46925 Warrego Highway, Muckadilla, about 40 kilometres west of Roma, the 600-square-metre hotel occupies an 8675-square-metre site with eight self-contained cabins, six powered caravan sites and a separate two-bedroom owner’s residence.
A Queenslander-style deck wraps around the building, opening to heavy timber tables and the pool. The cabins have kitchens and en suites, giving travellers somewhere to settle after a counter meal.
Muckadilla bottle shop and wine cellar
Williams describes Lyal as “pretty well known” in the pub world and “a country footballer most of his life”.
Lyall’s roots stretch back to Roma and Longreach, with family still in Roma and previous pubs in Charters Towers, Williams says. His background includes Brisbane hotels and Black Sheep Bottle Shop, whose website lists eight locations across Brisbane and Kingscliff.
He also helped establish Eleven Bridges Gin Bar and Distillery in South Brisbane with rugby league great Darren Lockyer and Mark Nightingale, transforming the former Peel Street Tavern into a gin-focused venue, alongside Blind Tiger Bar in The Gap in west Brisbane.
That retail experience will find a place at Muckadilla, where a bottle shop fit-out was already underway at handover, Williams says.
“He loves his fine wine, so he’s setting up a little wine cellar,” he adds. “He’ll have the bottle shop running within a week.”
A large barbecue area is also planned, building on the pub’s appeal to families.
“Parents can sit on the outside deck and watch their kids in the pool,” Williams says.
The highway brings another stream of customers to the social hub in the heart of the Maranoa region, a semi-arid area known for its agriculture and oil and natural gas industries.
“We had at least half a dozen grey nomads in their caravans, all come in and have a beer and have dinner,” Williams says of the night before settlement.
“Truckies pulling in off the highway, getting a six-pack for when they stop … it’s like a little community in the middle of nowhere.”
Muckadilla pub changes hands
The sale settled last Tuesday, following a Monday-night shift that gave Williams a taste of the business he was handing over.
“We didn’t have any staff last night, so between the three of us, we worked the bar and the food,” Williams says. “So we took it in turns to have a meal break, and it was so good.
“The seller was happy to move out, the buyer was keen to move in. You know, fresh ideas … the buyer and seller have got on so famously.”
Old football acquaintances were among those arriving to welcome Lyal.
“I’ve been here two nights, and so many people have come in because they know him; it’s just unbelievable,” Williams says.
Rebuiding Mucka Bup
The sign, meanwhile, needs no introduction. Builder Rob Pollock’s prank attracted national headlines in 2021, and Coomber embraced the response, keeping a name that now appears on hats and country shirts.
The pub dates to 1912, with its original bar destroyed by fire in 1960. In August 2019, wind blew flames from a neighbouring fire into the hotel’s air-conditioning duct. Within minutes, the pub was destroyed, leaving the small community without its gathering place.
Williams credits Coomber with having “rebuilt the pub from the ground up”, restoring a gathering place for the surrounding farming community. She was aware the previous owners were unable to rebuild, so she sold land to fund the purchase which was agreed in days she bought it from them.
The rebuilt pub reopened in August 2021, incorporating locally sourced materials and a recreated “seat of knowledge” for older farming regulars. Urinals fashioned from beer kegs add another distinctly pub-like touch.
Previously advertised for $1.5 million plus stock, the property was on and off the market for more than 18 months, Williams says, with an earlier conditional sale falling through.
For Coomber, handing over brings mixed emotions.
“This has been the hardest yet most rewarding thing I have ever done,” she wrote on Instagram.
“To my locals and travellers, all the nomads, truckies, sports groups, car clubs, bike groups and ‘I just saw it as I drove past and chucked a uwie’ … thank you all so much for your support.”
Coomber is heading to the beach for a break, she writes, with Christmas in Canada also planned, Williams says.
Her farewell includes a light-hearted warning about the new owners: “I mean they’re nowhere near as cranky as I am.”
