The historic Buckley’s Crossing Hotel has been rebranded as The Dalgety Hotel under new local ownership. Photo: The Dalgety Hotel Facebook.
Set against a bend in the Snowy River, the pub long known as the Buckley’s Crossing Hotel has entered a new chapter – one grounded in more than a century of history tied closely to the place itself.
Now rebranded as The Dalgety Hotel, the landmark building has been taken over by local couple Tegan Young and Scott Craig, who stepped in just days before the Easter long weekend.
For Dalgety – a small settlement of only a few dozen homes – the pub is, and always has been, more than a business; it is one of the few remaining places where the community regularly comes together.
The history of the site stretches back to the settlement’s early days as Buckley’s Crossing, named after Edward Buckley, who arrived in the 1830s.
By the mid-1800s, it had become the only reliable crossing on the Snowy River, providing a vital link along stock routes into the high country.
Drovers moving cattle and sheep, travellers on horseback, mail carriers, surveyors and local graziers all passed through, along with those moving across the region in search of gold and opportunity, using the crossing to rest, regroup and exchange news.
When the town was renamed Dalgety in 1880, that earlier identity endured and that steady movement shaped what came next.
When work began on the Dalgety Bridge in the late 1880s, local shopkeeper Jerome Quill saw an opportunity and built a hotel directly opposite the crossing, positioned to meet travellers as they arrived.
Construction began in 1888, and by February 1889 the Imperial Hotel had opened its doors.
Designed in the Late Victorian Colonial style, the single-storey building featured face brick walls on sandstone foundations, a corrugated iron roof and wide wraparound verandahs.
Inside, it was built to handle traffic – with 10 bedrooms, multiple dining and sitting rooms, a bar and parlour, and the service areas needed to support a busy stopover.
Like most country hotels of the era, it was more than a place to drink – it was a working hub where people could eat, sleep and conduct business under one roof, with horses tied up outside and a steady flow through the doors.
Over time, the hotel’s name shifted – from Imperial Hotel to Dalgety Hotel, Fountain’s Hotel and eventually Buckley’s Crossing Hotel – a nod to the settlement that first formed around the river crossing.
More than 135 years on, the building is still doing what it was designed to do.
Inside, the sense of history is hard to miss, with memorabilia-lined walls and a rustic interior – timber floors underfoot, open fireplaces and worn ledges edging the rooms where patrons once rested their glasses and swapped tales.
The bar itself has changed little in more than a century, aside from the quiet addition of a South Sydney Rabbitohs flag – a small nod to more recent custodians.
Dalgety locals Tegan Young and Scott Craig are the new owners of the town’s historic pub, formerly the Buckley’s Crossing Hotel, now rebranded as The Dalgety Hotel. Photo: Lisa Hogben.
For a brief moment in its history, it stood in a town tipped to become the nation’s capital.
In 1904, Dalgety was formally selected before the decision was overturned in favour of Canberra – a period that brought national attention to the small river settlement.
While that moment passed, the hotel endured.
It remains the only pub in a town still sitting on the banks of the Snowy River and continues to draw a mix of locals and travellers.
Dalgety’s position between Cooma and Jindabyne keeps a steady flow of visitors moving through, from snow-goers in winter to trout fishers, motorcyclists and road-trippers year-round.
For Tegan and Scott, that mix – along with the building itself – is a major drawcard.
Living just down the road, the couple had long admired the pub before the opportunity arose to take it on.
For Tegan, the move builds on a strong hospitality background, as the daughter of alpine operators Jane Clark and Stephen Young, known for their work at the Red Door Roastery in Jindabyne and Eyre Kiosk in Perisher.
Since taking over, the focus of the young couple has been on getting the fundamentals right with a menu centring on familiar pub staples – burgers, share plates and desserts – paired with cold beer and a welcoming atmosphere.
From all reports the locals have given it the thumbs up.
Importantly, there are no plans to overhaul the building.
Instead, the couple is leaning into the pub’s existing charm, ensuring it continues to serve as a community hub for Dalgety and the surrounding district and offering respite for weary travellers.
Yet there are subtle plans – like reinstating the badge draw and expanding the pub’s use for events such as weddings and birthdays.
And Tegan, who ran The Red Dog Coffee Van at Dalgety before her pub purchase, says she will eventually be serving coffee again – another layer in a place that has always been about people coming together.
The Dalgety Hotel is located at 1 Brierly St, Dalgety. Contact them on 0426 990 485 and keep up with them via their Facebook page.
