Sharanne Witt reopens Captains Flat Hotel in southern NSW after years of closure

Sitting at what was once the longest bar in the southern hemisphere, Captains Flat residents are quick to tell visitors about the ghost that causes schooners to levitate.

Legend has it Captains Flat Hotel patrons can rub a glass of beer up and down in any tiled corner of the pub and the schooner will stay there, hovering in mid-air.

It is a tale that has all the hallmarks of a made-up drinking yarn.

However, the ghost has been absent for some time.

So, too, have the locals.

The hotel has been mostly closed the past four years, leaving the 600 or so Captains Flat residents without a local pub.

Once a booming mining town, it is also with a petrol station, supermarket or coffee shop.

Accidentally buying a pub

'The Flat', south of Queanbeyan in southern NSW, has always been a special place for Sharanne Witt, despite leaving when she was just one month old.

"We were always quite proud of the fact we were born in Captains Flat," she said.

"There's something iconic and quite beautiful about it."

Her grandparents owned the butchery, her grandmother was a cook at the pub, which was where her parents met.

But she never imagined she would end up as the publican.

Ms Witt's daughter had always wanted to buy a pub.

When she saw Captains Flat Hotel listed for sale she convinced her mum to call the owner.

"By the time I hung up I'd bought a pub," Ms Witt said.

"Oh my God, I just bought a pub."

Family connection

Ms Witt's mother, Jacqueline Surmon, lived in Captains Flat Hotel when she was 13.

She said it was wonderful to see her family involved in the establishment again.

Nan – as she asks to be called — stood behind the bar in a pair of woollen slippers and greeted visitors with a huge smile, throwing her arms open wide for a hug.

"I think she'll make a go of it," she said. "We might see a heyday again."

Record long bar

The two-storey hotel was opened in 1937 when the neighbouring lead mine employed 3,000 people.

Resident Brett Marmont's father told him of the pub's glory days, when the bar would be 10-people deep during the six o'clock swill, with miners passing schooners over their heads to the men behind.

During those years, the pub would empty more than 200 kegs a week.

"There were some thirsty workers out here," Mr Marmont said.

It led to the installation of what was, at the time, reportedly the longest bar in the southern hemisphere at 32.2 metres.

Town legend has it that at some point in history, a patron was evicted from the bar and returned with an axe and hacked off 10 metres.

A concrete strip interrupting the floor tiles supports the story.

Captains Flat was booming at the time, with a roller rink, picture theatre, oyster bar and a jeweller.

But the mine closed in 1963, and the workers drifted away.

When the pub closed in 2020, residents were unsure when they would next share a round.

"The pub is a major part of the town," Mr Marmont said.

"It was a bit of a void when it closed.

"It's not a real big town. We don't have much out here. So, to lose something that everyone loves was quite sad."

Floating schooners

Ms Witt recently reopened Captains Flat Hotel with a soft launch for family, friends and residents.

Her grandson worked the dish pit on opening night – the fifth generation to work at the hotel.

Cash was left on the counter as patrons moved around the bar to greet friends.

The bartenders took what was owed and returned the change in a trust system.

Residents pouring into the bar shared the legend of the floating schooners, but no one claimed to be able to do it.

It seemed perhaps the floating schooner was a classic drinking tale after all.

The ABC was later sent a photo, apparently showing local man Geoff Brownlie performing the trick.

The legendary ghost, so it seemed, had returned.

"It's not haunted," Ms Witt said.

"It's a beautiful, iconic old girl.

"I was only a baby when I left, but it feels like I have found my roots.

"It's a town that never dies.

"Every time it goes down, it comes back up.

It's gone down, and now it's time to come back up."