Neil Varcoe was a tech executive in Sydney until he bought an old hotel in Carcoar, NSW, population 272. Here’s the latest instalment of his monthly column for Galah.
The birds are asleep. I step out of my ute onto the cobbled streets of historic Millthorpe. A block of light is cast onto the road like a welcome sign. The windows of Millthorpe Providore are cloudy with spent conversations.
As I push open the doors of the old butcher shop, owner and morning lark Dan Hewitt looks at me, then at the clock on the wall. His mouth cracks at one corner. “I’m on tradie hours, now,” I start before he does. “Fair enough — the usual, mate?”
“Yes please,” I reply as I settle into my table by the window, a good three hours ahead of time.
Dan and Kate Hewitt are the owners and operators of Millthorpe Providore . The pair met across the road at famed fine diner Tonic, established in 2003 by Tony and Kate Worland.
Chef Tony worked under Gordon Ramsay, Michael Manners and Matt Moran before rolling the dice on the regions. The restaurant provided a pulse to a village on the slab. Dozens of businesses opened around it in the years that followed. Milthorpe thrives. It’s not uncommon to see a line out the door of “The Prov” — the wagging tail of success that followed one brave couple’s decision to open a restaurant in a town that time forgot.
I sit at the same table each week to drink black coffee, eat the best bacon and egg roll in the world and think about one thing — ‘How do you introduce tourism to a village without altering its quiet charm? How do you share without ending up with less?’
It was an Australian cultural crawl. It kicked off at the footy, rolled through the gallery and ended at the pub. Carcoar was in full flight. A Thousand Words Gallery officially opened, Carcoar Crows Rugby League Club were at home, and there was a wedding at St Paul’s. The village was thumping.
The Carcoar Crows are the most dominant team in the history of the Midwest Cup. The trophy is the longest continuously awarded trophy in country rugby league — and one of the oldest still awarded in Australian sport.
Known as the Blayney Citizens' Cup, the prize was first awarded in 1913 under rugby union rules — until the popularity of league forced a conversion. “Blayney Football Union” is inscribed on the side. If you look closely, you can see the word “rugby” has been scrubbed out.
The Crows have held the trophy 13 times — the next best is 10 — this despite not fielding a team for 21 consecutive years. Old Crows gather each Thursday at The Village Grocer to talk about rugby league. The heart flutters to see the storied club turn out.
A Thousand Words Gallery has also flourished since opening in The Saddlery in July, due to a partnership between old and new. The couple who married at St Paul’s — locals stopped traffic so they could have their photos taken on the bridge — were visitors. And for me, this one day in Carcoar was a real-world simulation of what it might be like when Saltash Farm opens. Sometimes when you share, you get more.
We don’t plan to open ten businesses in Carcoar — we want to build demand so that others can. However, we can’t do it alone.
We applied for a Regional Development Grant from the NSW Government in February. This partnership would help to fund a commercial kitchen for the community and a kitchen garden. Our grand idea was to open the commercial kitchen to a different business every Tuesday.
Products would be sold in our Carcoar Co-op shop — slated to be housed in the unlucky shed — with proceeds going back to makers. Twenty percent of all profits would go towards community-building projects — new gardens, benches and more.
We also had plans to set up an intergenerational kitchen garden project with Carcoar Public School and the Roshana Uralba Aged Care Home. We had set up an agreement with TAFE NSW Orange to train local high school kids through our Saltash Kitchen.
Local and world-class chefs would partner to host cooking classes in the space with Saltash guests, taking all the proceeds home. It was the type of project that would have changed Carcoar for generations and allowed dozens of small businesses surrounding us to thrive, people to thrive.
We were due to hear the result of our application in May. It’s now October and we haven’t heard a word. We still hold out hope, but sadly the rest of our project must forge ahead without all of these space-creating elements.
It’s been particularly heartbreaking for Edwina who spent months writing our 100-plus page proposal, gathering more than 30 letters of support from federal and state members, renowned chefs and micro businesses keen to use our kitchen to scale up. TAFE NSW, Carcoar Public School, Tourism Australia and our local council all supported our proposal — which would have been met with a financial contribution from us. What a wrench.
Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf
Woollahra Gallery is nestled in Blackburn Gardens in Double Bay, overlooking Sydney Harbour and adjacent to Murray Rose Pool (fancy a summer dip when next in town?).
The contemporary gallery is accessible, open Wednesday to Sunday, and admission is free. Drop in to see the works of 54 finalists selected for the annual and prestigious Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (showcasing the works of emerging and established artists from all over Australia) on exhibition until 16 November.
Image credit - Jessica Maurer
RAG Status Reporting is used in project management to update executives quickly using a traffic light system. "Red" means trouble, "Amber" signals bumps in the road, and "Green" means everything is fine.
Please see the latest report below. Reach out with thought bubbles so we can pivot to new strategies.
The Project is On Track
Thank you to Woollahra Gallery for sponsoring today's newsletter.
Now is the time to subscribe, renew or pre-order Galah Issue 13. If you get your order in before 14 October we'll send you this issue – behold the glorious cover – with free shipping early November. Excellent way to stock up your present cupboard ahead of Christmas.
Galah Issue 13 is our Elements issue.
Come fire or tempest, or rain, hail or shine, our lives are shaped – often defined – by the elements. How to thrive in the face of uncertainty, cope with extremes, respect and protect our world – these are the big elemental issues. In Issue 13, we go gardening in the tropics and the alps, marvel at the best regional architecture for diverse climates, search for art in the desert, get obsessed about spuds and add (a lot) of salt to our greens. Plus there’s lots more Galah-inspired ideas, art, books and gardens (and spuds).
COVER IMAGE: Emily Kam Kngwarray, Anmatyerr people, Alhalker Country, 1994 © Emily Kam Kngwarray/Copyright Agency, 2025. Private collection, courtesy of Deutscher and Hackett. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Australia.
