Braidwood’s historic Troopers Rest dates back to the early 1840s. Photo: Supplied.
Built in the early 1840s as The Dog and Style and later named Troopers Rest, the historic single-storey, timber-clad building, which was once a stop for travellers on the way to the Araluen Gold Diggings, has a new owner and a new lease on life.
Purchased a year ago by Navy veteran Gavin Gillin, Troopers Rest is once again operating as a restaurant, its former iteration known for more than two decades as Torpy’s, and Gav has big plans for the historic building which includes moving his distillery business into Troopers Rest and setting up a veterans rehabilitation centre.
Well known in the region, Gav founded Hold Fast Distillery in 2019 to produce whisky, gin, vodka and liqueurs using traditional Scottish distillation traditions.
Gavin Gillin is well known in the area, with his distillery Hold Fast attending many local markets and festivals. Photo: Supplied.
Despite settling into his new venue nicely and having family roots in the Braidwood region, the town nearly lost Gav and his distillery when he initially planned to move a little further afield, having his eye on purchasing a pub in Batlow. It was a plan that, once thwarted by his wife, Gav could see wasn’t the right fit for the distillery, which had built up an established local clientele through persistent attendance of markets and events.
“I was looking at buying a pub in Batlow but my wife said, ‘Buy a new pub, get a new wife,” Gav said, laughing.
As a member of the Braidwood Chamber of Commerce, Gav has a vision to help promote Braidwood as a tourist destination and feels consistency from the local businesses will be one way to tap into the market of passing traffic destined for the South Coast. With that in mind, Gav has gone all in and Troopers Rest is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week.
It’s a feat that Gav is aware is rarely seen among the region’s hospitality businesses.
“I think we’re the only place in the region doing it,” Gav said.
The buzz around the building is quite noticeable; the doors are always open, the lights are always on, and Gav is welcoming locals and travellers much like throughout the building’s 180-year history.
Troopers Rest retains many original features including convict-built fireplaces. Photo: Supplied.
The exact date of inception of the original Dog and Style is a bit of a mystery, and one that Gav plans to uncover along with the rest of the building’s secrets.
“Braidwood was founded in 1839, and the building was founded in the early 1840s, we don’t have an exact date; I’m still trying to hunt that down,” Gav said.
Along with the chronological details, Gav is piecing together first-hand accounts by talking to former owners to trace a more detailed history of the property, a building that he noted had taken on a range of roles, including a hostel, a private residence, and a restaurant, adapting to the community’s needs across generations.
“If it’s not captured now, it just gets lost,” Gav said.
The history, while patchy, was one of the primary drawcards that attracted Gav to take on the building despite the challenges faced by owners of historic properties.
“People tell you not to buy a historic building, as there will be struggles with heritage and planning, but I think that’s the strength of the building, and I want to leverage that,” he said.
With the building’s use having changed a number of times in the past two centuries, many of the original features remain surprisingly intact with the original wooden floorboards, historic doors and convict-made brick fireplaces being a feature of the restaurant and Gav believes it is one of the oldest buildings still in operation in the region.
Focusing on his food service while he awaits approval to move Hold Fast, Gav is yet to take on an executive chef, and he is personally the driving force behind the menu, which leans heavily into local produce, a commitment that Gav takes as seriously as his commitment to his opening hours and sees him scouring markets and suppliers across the region from the South Coast to Canberra.
“On Tuesdays I head to Moruya to get a lot of our produce there. I get all our local seafood from Narooma, and all the meat comes from our local butcher,” Gav said.
“What I can’t get on Tuesdays, I get at the markets on a Thursday. I then have local farmers who will drop off produce if they don’t have a supply at the markets, and if all else fails, I have one last hit at the Canberra regional wholesalers for fruit and veg.”
Troopers Rest is now serving three meals a day, seven days a week. Photo: Supplied.
The menu that Gav and his team create from the locally sourced produce sees diners digging into brekky burgers on milk buns, toasted granola with milk, berries and honey, a variety of toasties and dishes such as smashed avo with poached eggs, marinated feta, pomegranate and hummus on sourdough.
Moving into lunch, there are small bites such as burrata with olive oil and bread and half a dozen fresh oysters as well as sandwiches and larger mains such as a classic ploughman’s lunch or macadamia crumbed salmon.
Dinner runs until 8:30 pm and sees the addition of dishes such as lemon butter prawn linguine and an eggplant steak.
In the background, while Gav feeds the town and passersby, he is working on a bigger picture idea to set up a veterans rehabilitation centre incorporating the facilities at Troopers Rest, a plan that he is already putting into action.
“I was in parliament six months ago to float the idea. I’ve got a local MP, Luke Gosling championing it; we’ve met with Kristy McBain, and we’ll engage with the Department of Veteran Affairs minister,” Gav said.
Wanting to deliver a more holistic approach to rehabilitation than what Gav sees in the market, he has a six-week course outlined which will couple on the back of vocational training with registered training organisations to ensure veterans have skills for life.
It’s a big plan for someone already pushing the boundaries of what one man can achieve, but if Gav has proved anything throughout his career and businesses, he knows how to bear down and hold the course, just as his business name, Hold Fast implies.
Troopers Rest is located at 202 Wallace Street, Braidwood and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week. You can keep up with the seasonal menu on its website and Facebook.
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on About Regional.
