Welcome to Queensland's Sexchange Hotel

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This was published 9 years ago

Welcome to Queensland's Sexchange Hotel

By Cleo Fraser

A group of drunk plumbers armed with a letter "S" turned an outback Queensland pub into the Sexchange Hotel.

Legend has it that it was 1976 when the Exchange Hotel in the small Cape York town of Coen was renamed and became a joke of the state's north.

Coen's Sexchange Hotel has become a tourist attraction for its name and friendly atmosphere.

Coen's Sexchange Hotel has become a tourist attraction for its name and friendly atmosphere.Credit: Facebook

"There were a heap of plumbers in town and there was a rumour going around that they were going to put the S up in front of the sign on the roof," publican Barry Mulley said.

"Then two days later it went up. It is by far the most photographed thing on the cape."

Sexchange Hotel souvenirs have become prized items among tourists.

Sexchange Hotel souvenirs have become prized items among tourists.Credit: Facebook

There are a number of theories on how the sign was changed.

One local patron in his 20s, who declined to give his name, said that in the 1970s "a few old boys" working in the area put it up in the middle of the night as a drunken dare.

"The publican cracked the s***s about it and took it down," the man said as he sipped on a beer.

"Then they came back a while later and put it back up again.

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A Coen local embraces the local pub's "Sexchange" motif.

A Coen local embraces the local pub's "Sexchange" motif.Credit: Facebook

"Then the publican said: 'I'm getting too old for this stuff, I'm leaving it up there'."

Mr Mulley, who runs the pub with his wife Ann-Louise and their two adult children, said he has no intention of changing the sign as it draws in tourists.

The 57-year-old publican has even changed signs advertising the pub along the Cape to read: "Sexchange Hotel Coen."

"It brings the crowds in, it's fantastic," said Mr Mulley, who bought the pub four years ago and has lived in Coen on and off for four decades.

The hotel is about 100 years old and is the hub of the outback town, which has a population of a few hundred.

On any given night nurses, teachers, painters, truckies, ecologists and German backpackers gather to chat over a pint at the pub.

"I've always loved it here," Mr Mulley said.

"It's a friendly, nice little town."

AAP

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