AN unlikely dream for an 11-year-old, Bec Young wanted nothing more as a child than to one day own and run the Albert Hotel in Milparinka.
Living in Adelaide at the time, Ms Young spent her holidays 800kms away in Milparinka, helping her relatives who ran the pub at the time.
“My auntie and uncle used to run the pub, so I started coming up here when I was young,” she said.
“And I just fell in love with the place. And here’s this 11 year old that says, ‘I’m gonna buy that place one day’. What 11 year old thinks they’re gonna buy a pub?”
Ms Young decided to relocate to the tiny town with a population of “about 11 people,” in her 20s, so she could be closer to her dream.
“So at 24 I came up here and worked at the pub,” she said.
“And my aunt and uncle got really sick and they had to leave. I met someone out here and ended up buying the pub.”
The pub originally opened in 1882, and has been in almost continual operation ever since.
Though Ms Young doesn’t know who the longest running publican was, she assumes she doesn’t hold the record, despite having run the pub now for 30 years.
A few tough seasons for Milparinka due to drought and floods has seen back-to-back mediocre tourism seasons, Ms Young said.
“This season has been really quiet because of all the floods up north,” she said.
“And last year it rained and the Gymkhana [Milparinka’s busiest day of the year] didn’t happen. Currently there’s floods up north and drought here. It’s been two pretty bad seasons.”
Due to the uncertainty of the tourism trade, Ms Young currently doesn’t employ any staff, and runs the pub almost entirely on her own.
“I haven’t had employees this year, I’ve had my partner who has been helping me but he’s away at the moment,” she said.
“I also have a couple that come up from Melbourne some time, they’ve been coming up nearly 30 years.
“You just never know what it will be like. You could have one meal, you could have 50. You’ve just gotta be prepared for anything and everything, which makes it hard when it’s just you. So you have to cook, serve at the bar, cook the food, check people into the rooms.”
Despite the challenges of running a pub in a remote and tiny ghost-town, Ms Young said she still can’t think of a better place to live than in Milparinka.
“I love living out here, I absolutely love it,” she said.
“It’s peaceful. I don’t know where else I would go. I’ve often thought about moving and nowhere else is really appealing to me.”
