By Lachlan Ford, ABC
Cooladdi is an hour’s drive from Charleville and nine hours from Brisbane.
Photo: Supplied
The smallest town in Australia with its own postcode has been listed for sale, including a four-bedroom home and several revenue streams.
Cooladdi’s two residents have decided to leave the relatively busy outback post after serving the wider community for three years.
It means whoever takes over will be expected to be a jack-of-all-trades, working as a postie, publican, motelier, restaurateur and shopkeeper.
Every single person in what is surely Australia’s smallest town has decided it is time to sell up and move on.
Cooladdi’s two residents, Carol Yarrow and Jo Cornel, are offering a rare kind of real estate deal – the chance to buy a Queensland town, including their four-bedroom home and a cluster of businesses.
The going price for the lot is $400,000, less than half the average price of a unit in Brisbane.
Carol Yarrow and Jo Cornel are selling the Foxtrap Roadhouse after three years. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Supplied: Carol Yarrow
More than a one-horse town
Cooladdi is truly outback, a nine-hour drive west of Brisbane.
Despite its two-person population, travellers and a steady flow of graziers from surrounding properties regularly stop by the town’s Foxtrap Roadhouse.
Whoever takes over will be expected to be a jack-of-all-trades, working as a postie, publican, motelier, restaurateur and shopkeeper.
“Today, I did the mail run down to Big Creek, so that’s about a five-and-a-half-hour drive down there, mainly gravel road,” Ms Yarrow said.
“Then just back here this afternoon to help run the shop, and tonight serve beers and food and whatever else is needed.”
The Foxtrap Roadhouse sits in one of the most affordable regions for housing in Australia. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Supplied: Carol Yarrow
Ms Yarrow said it was a busy gig, but the laid-back lifestyle was hard to beat.
“We sit around and have chinwags with all the locals on a Friday night. And then you have regulars pop in on their way through from Quilpie to Charleville,” she said.
“So you get to know a lot of people.”
Cooladdi’s roadhouse is a hub for people from surrounding stations. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Carol Yarrow
The town also hosts events, including the annual equestrian and motorbike gymkhana, which was relaunched last year.
Owners give life to small town
Ms Yarrow said Cooladdi remained an official town, thanks to it having its own postcode: 4479.
It stands in the shadow of its heyday in the 20th century, when its population peaked at 270 before the railway station and school closed.
Cooladdi grew as a railway stop in the 20th century. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Carol Yarrow
Ms Yarrow and Ms Cornel have spent the past three years running the town, but believe it is time for Cooladdi to have some new blood.
“I’ve just turned 70 and finding I’m getting a bit old for it,” Ms Yarrow said.
“There was sort of a fear of it dying, but we were able to get it up and going and keep it going.
“Let’s hope somebody else can get in and do the same thing.”
Cooladdi’s population shrank after its railway station closed. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Carol Yarrow
‘Everything you could possibly want’
Charleville Real Estate principal agent Becky Jeisman said Cooladdi was a rare find for buyers.
“It’s just filled with everything you could possibly want and has so much character,” Ms Jeisman said.
“It’s a profitable little enterprise with all of its income streams. And even in the quieter off-season, the mail run carries you through.”
The town acts as a rest stop for drivers travelling between Charleville and Quilpie. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Carol Yarrow
Cooladdi lies within the Murweh Shire Council, with Charleville its closest major town with a population of about 3,000 and where homes sell for an average of $210,000.
Cooladdi offers a unique lifestyle. (Supplied: Carol Yarrow)
Photo: Supplied: Carol Yarrow
Murweh Shire Mayor Shaun “Zoro” Radnedge said Cooladdi had a uniqueness unlike any other town in Australia.
“The amount of people that stop off there and stay there, camp there has been amazing,” he said.
And he said he would give his support to any future owner becoming the unofficial mayor of the tiny town.
“Happy to hand that token over,” he said.
– ABC