Many drivers pull into the main street of Braidwood for a “pie and a piss” without realising they are walking in the footsteps of bushrangers, movie stars, artists and migrants.
The town’s facade was a ready-made film set for Mick Jagger in the 1970 Ned Kelly film.
And, according to the publican, Jagger wrote Brown Sugar on the piano next to the entrance of the pink pub on the corner, built in 1859.
The Braidwood Hotel and Wallace Street in the early 1900s. / Looking down Wallace Street from the Braidwood Hotel in 2026.
Publican Paul Garcia said in its glory days, the upstairs ballroom hosted state dinners, reunions of the Light Horse Brigade after WWI and NSW’s first royal commission.
But decades later, it became known as Hotel Beirut “because it looked like a bomb had gone off,” he said.
Mr Garcia took over the pub in 2024 with a restoration plan.
Publican Paul Garcia, sitting in the currently run-down ballroom, said visitors to the pub always commented on how it felt “magical”. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
“We’re trying to get this building and take it towards its natural glory,” he said.
“Local grandfathers all talked about the magic of the pub. They want to see their old pub come back to what it was.
“Why would you make it one of the typically new, modern hotels? We’ve got that everywhere. That’s what’s happening to all our old hotels.”
If walls could talk, the Braidwood Hotel, built in 1859, would have some stories to tell. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
Mr Garcia knows restoration will be costly, but he wants to see the ballroom hosting balls again. In Braidwood, he said, the future was old.
“Everything we do will be created in its old image,” he said.
“It’s 160 years old. It’s magic — look at it. Why would you get rid of that?”
The upstairs ballroom used to host state dinners. Now it’s rundown and in need of a paint. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
Braidwood heritage listed 20 years ago
One hour east of Canberra and surrounded by national parks, Braidwood was gazetted in 1839.
When gold was discovered nearby in the 1850s, the town became the administrative centre of the southern goldfields — the population swelling to nearly 15,000 as migrants and fossickers all came in search of a new hope.
Mick Jagger dressed as Ned Kelly during filming in Braidwood. (Supplied: Braidwood Museum)
In 2006, the entire town was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register — including the big wooden verandahs and cast-iron awnings above shop fronts, the grid-like north-south street layout, and the requirement that you must be able to see rolling green hills from both sides of the main street.
The president of Braidwood Museum, Peter Smith, said Braidwood deserved its spot on the register.
Braidwood Museum president Peter Smith said the heritage listing needed to come with more support from the state government. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
“You have all of rural Australia combined in one town,” Mr Smith said.
“When I first came to Braidwood, I was in awe. My imagination would run wild.”
Mr Smith grew up hearing tales of bushrangers, heists and shoot-outs. In Braidwood, these stories walked the streets.
The Clarke Gang, pictured robbing a stagecoach. (Supplied)
The infamous Clarke Gang carried out about 70 robberies in the Braidwood area during the 1860s gold rush, shooting four policemen and leading to the first Royal Commission in NSW — held in Braidwood in 1867.
But then the gold dried up.
“From 1900, Braidwood went to sleep,” Mr Smith said.
The railway promised in the 80s and 90s never reached the expectantly-named Station Street.
And because the town went into hibernation, the architecture survived.
Braidwood’s architecture has survived more than 100 years. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
“The streetscape of Braidwood is amazing. The buildings that survived became the character of the town,” Mr Smith said.
Indeed, the heritage register recognises the town as “an excellent surviving example of a Georgian period town plan”.
“In NSW, colonial towns that retain significant historic form and fabric to the extent that Braidwood does, are rare,” the listing said.
Town ‘at a turning point’
Twenty years after it was first listed, Braidwood remains the only entire town on the NSW State Heritage Register.
In an independent review for Heritage NSW in 2024, Braidwood’s listing was described as “experimental”.
The National Theatre building on Wallace Street, Braidwood, in 1929Â / 2026.
As a result of the town’s listing, Heritage NSW became the planning authority, along with the local council.
Wallace Street, Braidwood, date unknown. (Supplied: Braidwood Museum)
Mr Smith said having dual authorities delayed the building process and made everything more expensive.
“The problem is, every time there’s a development in Braidwood, there’s an extra process to go through,” Mr Smith said.
“It’s delayed for three or four months, or longer. And everything becomes more expensive to build.
“It’s all very good that heritage is being preserved, but it comes at a price, and the price is borne by the local people. It’s not borne by the state.
“It’s worth preserving, but it needs funding.”
The review said Braidwood was “at a turning point”.
A story to tell
Mr Smith thinks the key to Braidwood’s future is heritage tourism.
Some 1.5 million cars pass through the town annually — it’s the main thoroughfare for Canberrans heading to the NSW south coast and popular for “a pie and a piss,” locals say.
In 2013, Transport for NSW estimated 1.5 million cars passed through Braidwood annually. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
“The future of Braidwood is to get these people to stop,” Mr Smith said.
“Braidwood is perfectly set up to be a hub for heritage tourism. We need to capitalise on it.
“Braidwood has a terrific story to tell. We need to tell the story, and it would also create great value for NSW.”
Building a plan for the future
The 2024 review suggested incentives for owners of heritage items, helping them maintain their assets, and the creation of a heritage interpretation plan.
With a grant from the state and local governments, a team are working to create that strategic plan, to better share Braidwood’s history.
“The review found the sense of disappointment that Braidwood was heritage-listed and so few people recognised it or were aware of it,” heritage archaeologist and Braidwood local Kirsty Altenburg said.
“A lot of the people who were very keen on the listing and supported it were starting to get pretty disappointed with some of the decisions being made.”
Braidwood local Kirsty Altenburg said since the listing in 2006, nothing had been done to preserve the heritage of Braidwood. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
She said the new strategic plan would “tell the stories of Braidwood”.
“Heritage is not about stopping development; it’s very much about managing development in a way that can be well maintained and provide opportunities,” she said.
She hoped the plan would create a pathway forward for Braidwood to remain a beautiful relic of old Australia into the future.
“The town is still here, and the town is still thriving. I want it to retain the essence of what it is,” she said.A university for heritage skills
With funding from a Bushfire Recovery Grant and support from the local bank, the museum is also undertaking a building project, hoping to establish Braidwood as the heritage capital of NSW.
“The concept is to address gentrification issues while promoting Braidwood and making it a tourism destination,” Nathan Pharaoh, who is overseeing the project, said.
 Nathan Pharaoh dreams of making the museum the central hub of Braidwood. (ABC News: James Tugwell )
The project includes accommodation, a blacksmith shop, an exhibition shop and, as the centrepiece, an artisan studio.
“We want to treat Braidwood as a heritage-listed university, where you can come and study heritage skills such as blacksmithing, dressmaking or wheelmaking,” Mr Pharaoh said.
Mr Pharaoh dreams about what this space at the back of the museum’s block could become. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
Mr Pharaoh is the Braidwood Museum’s only paid employee, having moved from California more than 10 years ago.
When he arrived, the locals threw him a welcome party — and that community spirit is what he wants to capture in the project.
Braidwood Post Office was built in 1865. (ABC News: James Tugwell)
“That was very uniquely Braidwood,” Mr Pharaoh laughed.
“In the [heritage] listing, they focus on the building — the architecture — but what they’re not capturing is the scope of Braidwood as a living town.
“Braidwood is raw. It’s a living heritage town — not this Disneyland version of a heritage town.
“Everything else is cookie-cutter. That’s not the world I want to live in.”