Gutsy Community Determined Not To Let Their Town Run Out Of Gas

Sun Herald

Sunday June 17, 2007

By Denis Gregory

THE people of a dying country town have taken out a loan to reopen a petrol station in a bid to save other businesses from going under.

It is not the first rescue mission by the residents of Gulargambone, who revived their defunct post office and created a tourist information centre to stave off ruin. Stock and station agent Steve Colwell said if Gulargambone's only service station had remained closed, every other business would have folded too.

"Because people had to go out of town to get their fuel, it was really hurting local businesses like the supermarket, the rural transaction centre and my own rural shop," Mr Colwell said. "We were all beginning to suffer."

The rot for the 500 residents of the Castlereagh River township began when the post office closed in 2000.

They bought the building and reopened it as a rural transaction centre with banking and RTA facilities. They then bought a dilapidated building in the main street, organised volunteer working bees to renovate it and opened a visitor information centre.

They later received sponsorship for a coffee shop, which has since won several tourism awards.

But the closure of the town's only fuel outlet threatened to land the body blow, as residents drove 50 kilometres to Coonamble or Gilgandra to fill their tanks and did their shopping while they were there. So townsfolk obtained a six-month interest-free loan from Coonamble Shire Council, leased the petrol station and reopened it a week ago with volunteers manning the bowser.

Mr Colwell said the community co-operative had placed an eight cents a litre mark-up on the fuel to cover the weekly lease and electricity.

"We have a roster and try to work it out so we have different people there for three-hour shifts in the morning or afternoon," he said.

Volunteers include housewives, school bus drivers, stock and station agents, farmers, retirees and the supermarket owner, Robert Ramien, who opens the petrol station the morning and locks up at night.

Townsfolk hope an oil company will put in a petrol outlet with a 24-hour card system, eliminating the need for the pumps to be manned.

Meanwhile, "the scheme is going well, the locals are supporting it and hopefully things will get back to normal in the town," Mr Colwell said.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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