We tell this story often, because it's the reason Eucalypt Bay is laid out the way it is.
The founder
Thirty years at the saleyards, then a building of his own
Our founder worked the Colac saleyards for the better part of thirty years before he had enough put aside to buy the building on Murray Street outright.
He'd cooked for shearers and yard workers on and off for years, so the dining room came naturally, feeding people finishing late shifts nearby.
The card room followed a few years later, once he'd saved enough to fit out the old storeroom with proper felt tables instead of the kitchen table he'd played on for years.
1958
The year he bought the building outright
The Kitchen
Simple food, cooked for workers finishing late
The Storeroom
Later fitted out as the card room we still use
What we kept
What's still the same today
We still keep the two rooms separate, dining out front and cards out the back, exactly as he set it up.
We still use the counter he built by hand, and we still hand out chips from the same spot he did.
We still don't serve anything alongside a meal but tea, coffee, lemonade and cold water.
We still keep everyone to eighteen and over, in the dining room as much as at the felt.
We only serve adults here
We're open to guests aged eighteen and over, for dinner and for the card room alike, and we don't take cash bets anywhere on the property.
