{"id":570895,"date":"2026-03-28T23:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/570895\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T23:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T23:19:12","slug":"brisbane-couple-give-up-city-life-careers-and-move-to-outback-to-run-silverton-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/570895\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane couple give up city life, careers, and move to outback to run Silverton Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Burnt out by city life and their respective jobs in Brisbane, Liz Murphy and Norm Matau needed a change.<\/p>\n

The pair, in their 50s, had put in a combined 60 years on their feet: Ms Murphy as a theatre nurse and Mr Matau as a pastry chef and then carpenter.<\/p>\n

They had long held the dream of doing a loop of Australia, and so when the daily grind finally became too much they made a drastic decision to buy a caravan and hit the road.<\/p>\n

Along their journey they heard the iconic Silverton Hotel, in far west New South Wales, was up for sale, so they made the move to the town in early March.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The Silverton Hotel is more than 100 years old. (ABC Broken Hill: Coquohalla Connor)<\/p>\n

Nearly a month on, and while their jobs at the pub are still demanding, there are certain freedoms the pair are enjoying.<\/p>\n

“It’s still long hours, but at least I can have a drink of water and go to the bathroom when I want to,” Ms Murphy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I actually get to talk to people now. They’re not asleep [undergoing surgery].\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s been fun hearing about where people are from and where they’re going.”<\/p>\n

Unable to retire, unable to keep working<\/p>\n

Mr Matau has always been a hard worker but about two years ago, his partner began to see the impact carpentry was having on his body.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coming to Australia in the mid-90s from New Zealand, he had done a bit of everything: from working at a bakery to carpentry, and even having a brief stint as a professional boxer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mr Matau was excited to see more of Australia. (Supplied: Liz Murphy)<\/p>\n

“I watched Norm come home and he was just in agony half the time,” Ms Murphy said.<\/p>\n

Her own career as a theatre nurse was also having a physical impact on her health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

“My hands were giving out using instruments at work,” Ms Murphy said.<\/p>\n

“I thought we had better look for something different because we can’t afford to retire, we have to keep working.”<\/p>\n

Mr Matau agreed, “Our bodies had kind of had it.”<\/p>\n

Ms Murphy had seen a bit of Australia, but Mr Matau had barely had the opportunity to see the countryside since his move across the Tasman Sea 30 years earlier.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Norm and Liz say they couldn’t be happier with their decision to leave the city for the country.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC Broken Hill: Coquohalla Connor)<\/p>\n

“Because Norm hadn’t done any travelling, it was a great opportunity to be able to go and do that,” Ms Murphy said.<\/p>\n

Once they hit the road, Mr Matau was excited to see and learn more about rural and regional Australia and its people.<\/p>\n

“I was just enjoying travelling around Australia, seeing all the little towns and the history of them, I was just buzzing off that,” he said.<\/p>\n

Drawn to Silverton<\/p>\n

Before they hit the road, Ms Murphy spoke to Mr Matau about a couple of towns that were on her list to see.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among them was a tiny village in far west NSW that was known for its free-roaming donkeys and being the setting of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Mr Price is assuring the public the donkeys won’t be leaving Silverton. (Supplied: Petah Devine)<\/p>\n

“I said I wanted to go to Silverton \u2026 mainly to see the sunset, just the countryside,” she said.<\/p>\n

The couple were yet to make it there when they were in Adelaide and having dinner with friends when an opportunity came up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We were saying we wanted career changes and [our friend] Pete is a hotel broker and he was saying Silverton Hotel is for sale,” said Ms Murphy.<\/p>\n

The pair ditched the trailer and drove six hours to meet the pub’s owners, Peter and Patsy Price.<\/p>\n

After 16 years running Silverton Hotel, the Prices were themselves keen for their next adventure: retirement.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The Prices (centre) have enjoyed being the heart of the community and hosting events, including the Broken Heel recovery day. (Supplied: Peter Price)<\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for the two couples to strike a deal and for Ms Murphy and Mr Matau to become the proud new lessees of the pub.<\/p>\n

New perspective<\/p>\n

The couple travelled home to Brisbane and packed their bags, moving to the tiny town in early March.<\/p>\n

It has given Ms Murphy a fresh lease on life and she encourages others eager for a change in career to have a look at what’s available.<\/p>\n

For her, being able to chat to patrons and hear their stories has been refreshing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

The Silverton donkeys have become icons of the far west and regularly visit the pub. (Supplied: Silverton Pub)<\/p>\n

While Mr Matau is just enjoying life at a slower pace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I open up [the pub] every morning and go outside and drink my coffee and just take it in,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just unreal.”<\/p>\n

The end of an era<\/p>\n

Patsy Price has lived in Silverton most of her life, with her family moving to the town in the late 1940s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Mr Price, it had been a “dream” to take over the local pub, which he was able to realise with his wife 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

“I bought the pub and that started another stage of our life, and off we went following that dream,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms Price has lived in Silverton most of her life. (ABC Broken Hill: Coquohalla Connor)<\/p>\n

The people and the patrons they have met have been the most memorable part, Mr Price said.<\/p>\n

“Everyone’s got a story to tell, and it’s been great to tell those stories over the years,” he said.<\/p>\n

The town’s much-loved free-range donkeys \u2014 who are known to wander the town’s main common \u2014 are not going anywhere, the Prices said.<\/p>\n

The donkeys, which are something of a tourist attraction in themselves, are owned by the Prices and Petah Devine but are free-roaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re very much part of the Silverton scene. They’re not going \u2014 that would be a big no,” Mr Price said.<\/p>\n

While the Prices are now nearing their 80s and are eager to enjoy retirement, their new home is only a short walk up the hill if the new licensees need a hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Burnt out by city life and their respective jobs in Brisbane, Liz Murphy and Norm Matau needed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,54886,15039,134,3291,280362,280365,280363,9087,115185,280370,280364,280369,280367,280366,280368,280361],"class_list":["post-570895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-broken-hill","tag-donkeys","tag-entertainment","tag-hotels","tag-liz-murphy","tag-mad-max-2","tag-norm-matau","tag-outback","tag-outback-pub","tag-patsy-price","tag-peter-and-patsy-price","tag-peter-price","tag-pubs","tag-silverton","tag-silverton-hotel","tag-silverton-pub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}