The Kingoonya Hotel, once a throughfare for the Stuart Highway and a railway town, now relies on tourism to keep it ticking.
Four publicans - Dot and Rolly Site and John and Julie Brett - operate the hotel in the town, which has a population of 12.
John said due to a family history with the pub, when the lease came up for renewal in November 2012, he took it on with "an army mate Alistair Murray, until about four years ago".
"Then we bought the freehold," he said.
"Our business partner is another friend (Dot and Rolly) now, who lives away but there are four of us who are owner/occupiers.
"My grandmother opened it in 1937 and then my dad took over in the late '50s," he said.
"Mum and Dad ran it until 1976 and then leased it out until the mid '80s.
"They were involved with the consortium of the Glendambo Hotel and took the license from here across to there.
"And then the pub closed down for 20 plus years."
The pub attracts many tourists to the area with the season starting in mid March through to the end of October.
He said they are open all week from 11am through to the last patron.
"People want to get off-road and go through the Gawler Ranges, which is looking pretty stunning at the moment," he said.
"There is little bush tracks around, there is Googs Track, which is west of us and comes up from Ceduna.
"It's a whole heap of sand hills and people like to do that.
"Some people come in off of the highway because we have good reviews so people keep poking in here and having a look."
John and Julie travel to Glendambo to meet trucks to collect their produce for the hotel, sent from Port Augusta.
He said they run the hotel under the KISS principle of keep it simple stupid.
John said he's passionate about shopping and supporting local businesses.
"We've got a good butcher, the Port Augusta Meat Store, they supply our meat and Veggie Patch in Port Augusta.
"I could probably do things cheaper but I'm a big one for shopping local, I always wanted to support local businesses in Port Augusta and around the area.
"It's 326 kilometres one way to Port Augusta, but we have a truck which comes up to Glendambo once a fortnight, which is about 90km round trip to meet trucks."
The hotel also supports a range of charities with the Variety Bash and Mystery Box rallies coming past.
"They're always a bit of fun," he said.
"We put on a simple menu, but people enjoy it.
"Usually they've been camping for a few days, so when they get here, they enjoy it.
"We have a fire pit out the front so in winter we light the fire and it keeps us a bit warm."
He said there were not too many pubs where it was possible to sit out the front at the fire.
"We have a few events throughout the year," he said.
"On the long weekend in June we have a little camp oven cook off and then we have a cricket match towards the end of October and then Easter weekend, we generally have something on."
John said fundraising was close to their hearts.
"At the little events we run, we raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service," he said.
"We usually do fundraisers for the community like the Progress Association and for the Flying Doctor and we did a cricket match one time for the McGrath Foundation and Soldier On.
"It's just fun little fundraisers that we like to support."
This is part of Stock Journal's iconic pub series - stay tuned for more pub stories to come.
Catch up on other iconic pubs:
Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
