Peter & Patsy, Publicans, Silverton Hotel, Silverton, Wilyakali / Barkindji Country

Peter and Patsy live in Silverton with their kelpie, Teddy - who barks at ghosts, and they run the only pub left standing in Silverton.

Patsy’s father was a drover who would spend months at a time droving in the outback. They moved to Silverton on a horse drawn cart when Patsy was young, and bought the house opposite the pub. Back then there were three hundred people living in the town, compared to about thirty now.

Patsy moved away and met Peter in his hometown of Warrnambool. They moved around a bit, before coming back to Silverton in 2007.

They came into owning the pub when Peter was helping the owner manage leasing the pub, and Peter joked that he should have bought it, and she said “why don’t you.” So he and Patsy did. Since then they’ve installed a kitchen, two outdoor areas, and Peter even built some tables from old trees in the courtyard. They’re looking to sell the pub now because they’re in their seventies and want to focus on building their house up the hill, an area Peter jokingly refers to as “Silverton Heights”. But they assured me they’ll be holding onto it til they find the right fit, because they don’t want someone installing pokies and ruining the place.