OUTBACK PUBS
Tibooburra's brush with fame
Tibooburra, the hottest, most isolated town in NSW, boasts a novel memorial to some of the biggest names in Australian art in one of its historically significant watering holes
Story Peter Austin Photos Darren Clark
It's not every country pub that can treat its patrons to a no-charge exhibition
by some of Australia's leading artists, but then, not every pub boasts the
colourful history of the Family Hotel in Tibooburra in far north-west NSW.
The Family Hotel is one of two hotels in this remote frontier township of
130-odd people, once the booming centre of a short-lived gold rush and now
enjoying a revival as a popular stopover point for outback tourists.
Apart from its strategic location as the logical 'jumping off' point for
travellers heading for the Corner Country or beyond, Tibooburra is a significant
tourist drawcard itself, and the Family Hotel is part of that attraction.
Visitors are drawn to the hotel today, not just to slake their thirst with
a welcome stubby or two from the hands of host Peter Petrovich and his cheerful
bar staff, but to soak up the ambience of this former artists' 'back of beyond'
retreat. 
Full story Issue 31 Oct/Nov 2003
