This was published 15 years ago
Tatong Tavern review: The pub with 'no town'
Front bar and lounge ... the English-style Tatong Tavern.Credit: Sandy Guy
Sandy Guy takes time out at a tavern that provides a melting pot in the bush.
Legend has it the Tatong pub was built with the proceeds of a cache of gold mined in the hills surrounding the tiny town located about 25 kilometres south-east of Benalla.
Nestled in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range, the pub has been the town's epicentre since the 1880s when Tatong was busy with timber cutters toiling in the vast forests bordering the town.
Bushfires razed the original weatherboard hotel in the early 1920s and, early in 2007, another threatened to annihilate the Tatong Tavern, the English-style pub built in 1923. Locals breathed a collective sigh of relief when the wind changed at the last minute.
These days the tavern is rather like a pub with no town. Tatong's police station, store, post office and school have all closed and the railway line from Benalla was torn up in the 1940s. Today the pub shares the town's main thoroughfare, Fernhill Road, with an empty shop and milking shed where cows stand patiently in line for the afternoon labours.
Tatong might be small but it's big on spirit with more than 20 local groups meeting regularly at the community centre, footy club and pub, including an angling club, cricket teams, tennis club, heritage group, the Tatong Young Bloods and the Country Fire Authority (CFA), which has 70 volunteer members aged from 18 to 84 from a population of just 300 in the town and surrounding area.
Local CFA captain Rod Lindsay has lived in the area all his life. His great-grandfather ran a grog shanty in nearby Winton frequented by the Kelly gang. He renovated the bogey once used to cart logs from the Tatong hills to a local sawmill and now defunct railway station, which you can see near the community centre, and he is passionate about this beautiful, hidden valley.
"The Tatong pub is the meeting place for all sorts of community events," says Lindsay as we relax on a 1920s sofa in the pub's lounge.
Comfort and cosy open fires are part of the tavern's attraction. You can while away a lazy afternoon sipping superb wines from the nearby King Valley before heading to the dining room for cuisine that's so good it's been featured in The Age Good Food Guide for the past three years.
Publicans Leanne Burns and Andy Varnik, a former Singapore-based businessman who traded the fast lane for a quiet Tatongan life five years ago, source chiefly local produce for the hotel's menus.
On the menu is a gourmet pickling platter - sundried tomatoes, olives, marinated mushrooms, cheese and salami - fennel-dusted pork cutlets; kangaroo fillet with beetroot relish, lamb shanks marinated in red wine and rosemary and mushrooms stuffed with goats cheese, pine nuts and herbs, as well as the traditional pub grub like big rump steaks.
The tavern sleeps 16 guests in no-frills yet comfortable rooms. We slept in the honeymoon suite that features a comfortable bed and that's about all.
The bathroom is a few doors along.
Mornings are wonderfully tranquil in Tatong. The only sounds are the warbling of magpies and screech of parrots. You can help yourself to cereals, fruit, toast, coffee and herbal teas in the pub's kitchen.
The pub has a pretty garden that's popular with local brides and the hotel grounds are home to a terrific farmers' market held on the first Saturday of the month. You can stock up on local produce from about 30 stalls, selling everything from herbs, preserves, olive oil, cheese and fresh vegetables to soap.
Spend a few days in this peaceful valley and you'll uncover all sorts of hidden gems. Riverview, six kilometres south of Tatong, is a working farm where you get an up-close view of rural life. It is also home to an extensive private collection of Holdens.
From Tatong it's a 20-minute drive to the forests of the Toombullup plateau, Stringybark Creek and the Kelly Tree inscribed with "1878 Kelly shot Lonigan". From here it's not far to Myrrhee and the wineries of the King Valley, including Boggy Creek Vineyards, Gracebrook Vineyards and Pizzini Wines.
Mount Samaria State Park, 20 minutes drive south-east of Tatong near Swanpool, is also well worth visiting. Take time to catch a movie at the Swanpool Cinema, which is a classic 1950s red-velvet trimmed theatre that still uses original technology and furnishings.
Sandy Guy was a guest of North East Victoria Tourism Inc.
FAST FACTS
Staying there
Tatong Tavern phone 5767 2210 or see tatongtavern.com.
Other Tatong accommodation includes Ruth's House, a four-bedroom self-contained 1960s style homestead on a working cattle and sheep property, see www.ruthshousetatong.com, phone 5767 2278 and Tattlers Cottage, a cute one-bedroom house a short walk from the pub phone 5767 2167.
Things to do
Riverview (Tolmie Road, Tatong) holds an annual Classic Holden Display Day that includes a mini-antique road show, wine tastings and sales, local produce and live music. Entry is $5 for adults and children are free. See riverview.net.au or phone 5767 2309.
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