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Skip to main content Skip to navigation Close dialogue 1 / 3 Next image Previous image Toggle caption Print subscriptions Search jobs Sign in Eur Europe edition UK edition US edition Australia edition International edition The Guardian - Back to home The Guardian News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show more Hide expanded menu News View all News World news UK news Climate crisis Ukraine Environment Science Global development Football Tech Business Obituaries Opinion View all Opinion The Guardian view Columnists Cartoons Opinion videos Letters Sport View all Sport Football Cricket Rugby union Tennis Cycling F1 Golf US sports Culture View all Culture Books Music TV & radio Art & design Film Games Classical Stage Lifestyle View all Lifestyle Fashion Food Recipes Love & sex Health & fitness Home & garden Women Men Family Travel Money Search input google-search Search Support us Print subscriptions Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Newsletters Today's paper Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Wordiply Corrections Tips Search input google-search Search Search jobs Holidays Digital Archive Guardian Licensing Live events About Us World Europe US news Americas Asia Australia Middle East Africa Inequality Global development Located in the ghost town of Linda, near Gormanston, the historic property was snapped up by a Perth-based chef and his partner for $300,000. Photograph: Aaron Jones Photography View image in fullscreen Located in the ghost town of Linda, near Gormanston, the historic property was snapped up by a Perth-based chef and his partner for $300,000. Photograph: Aaron Jones Photography Tasmania It’s a remote, roofless ruin in a Tasmanian ghost town – and it just sold sight unseen for $300,000 Historic Royal Hotel bought by Perth couple who have never set foot in Tasmania, with hopes its story will become a tourism drawcard Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Ima Caldwell Thu 10 Sep 2026 17.00 CEST Last modified on Thu 10 Sep 2026 23.54 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google On the edge of the main highway winding from Hobart to Tasmania’s west coast, the concrete shell of the Royal Hotel stands like a spacecraft lingering on otherworldly terrain. One of the few official ruins in Tasmania, the old building is roofless, weathered by the elements – and has just sold for $300,000. An elsewhere world: the sleepy Tasmanian mining town that became an arts mecca Read more Located in the ghost town of Linda, near Gormanston, the historic property was snapped up sight unseen by a Perth chef, Naiche, and his partner. They plan to explore opening an eatery in the adjacent (functional) building. Set on a stretch of road where the town’s welcome and goodbye signs sit barely a kilometre apart , the property comprises the abandoned hotel and adjacent building equipped with a commercial kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedrooms. From a bird’s eye view, the roofless concrete walls expose the ruin’s layout like a dollhouse. Its smooth, human-made edges stand out against surrounding mountainous landscape, laden with jagged boulders and low-hanging clouds. When the sun hits the muted greys of the country, the colours turn into warm hues of brown, orange and green. View image in fullscreen The dark grey shell has served as a pit stop for road trippers seeking ghost-town photo opportunities. Photograph: Aaron Jones Photography Originally constructed from timber in 1901, the hotel was destroyed by fire nine years later before being rebuilt in reinforced concrete. It catered to prospectors drawn by gold at the nearby North Lyell mine, where a 1912 fire claimed 42 lives. Over subsequent decades, the hotel serviced local copper miners and earned a reputation for brawls – including a fatal stabbing in 1925 – before the mines emptied and the pub was abandoned in 1952. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email In recent years, the dark grey shell has served as a pit stop for road trippers seeking ghost-town photo opportunities. It has also been used as a backdrop for light projections during the Unconformity arts festival. The adjacent building was previously operated by Zara Trihey as Linda Cafe – catering to visitors that included hikers, cyclists and rafters heading towards the Franklin River and Strahan. ‘Buying a wreck’ Dominic Romeo, a historic property agent who handled the sale, says the listing attracted interest across Australia, the UK and US. Romeo, who has spent 40 years restoring historic country houses, described the Royal Hotel as a “huge historic shell”. “Buying a wreck, sight unseen, is another level,” he says. “I love these types of buyers, they have a sense of adventure and purpose. The purchasers are from Perth, WA. They did not inspect the property, but what makes it even more interesting is that they have never been to Tasmania.” View image in fullscreen The hotel is 15 minutes’ drive from Queenstown, two hours from Burnie and three and a half hours from Hobart. Photograph: Aaron Jones Photography According to the West Coast council mayor, Shane Pitt, the region’s scenery is unique to the rest of Tasmania, with dense natural growth rainforests, rolling peaks and freshwater lakes filled with rainbow, brown and brook trout. “We class the whole west coast as remote,” he says, estimating the hotel to be 15 minutes’ drive from the major town of Queenstown, two hours from Burnie and three and a half hours from Hobart. skip past newsletter promotion Free newsletter | When needed Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks Enter your email Sign up after newsletter promotion The region surrounding Queenstown, Gormanston and the Linda Valley has a distinctive “lunar landscape” from a legacy of historic mining and timber harvesting, that has “started to be overtaken by floral growth”. ‘Visitors want to know the history’ The chief executive of the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania, Amy Hills, says sites like the Royal Hotel spark curiosity among travellers. “There is a rawness to the west coast that draws visitors in,” Hills says. “Buildings like this help tell those stories and connect visitors to the history of the community. The new owners have the potential to give visitors a reason to stop and engage with the hotel’s story. Private buildings, public land: how Australia’s national parks became a battleground between conservation and commerce Read more “Visitors want to know the history – what was it like before it closed in the early 1950s? Who spent time there, and what did its presence bring to the area at that time?,” she says. “There is something exciting about discovering an unexpected place on a road trip.” Hills says tourism is vital to the state’s economy, particularly in regional areas. “The industry directly and indirectly supports approximately one in six jobs across the state,” she says. “In regional communities that flow-on impact can be particularly significant.” Pitt says a there has been a surge in adventure tourism on the west coast, driven by wilderness cruises, heritage railways and the nearby Mount Owen mountain bike trails, some of which end in the Linda valley. “Those riders may be attracted to the eatery,” he says – if it offers something distinct from nearby Queenstown. The local community “is one that is willing to support those having a crack”, Pitt says. “It would be good to see the old Royal Hotel renovated back to its former glory, but this will take a lot of time, money and hard work. Telling the story of the building would certainly be a great start.” Explore more on these topics Tasmania Tourism (Australia) Business features Share Reuse this content Most viewed Most viewed World Europe US news Americas Asia Australia Middle East Africa Inequality Global development News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections Contact us Tip us off SecureDrop Privacy policy Cookie policy Tax strategy Terms & conditions All topics All writers Newsletters Digital newspaper archive Bluesky Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Threads TikTok YouTube Advertise with us Search UK jobs Tips Accessibility settings Work with us Back to top © 2026 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (dcr)
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