Not much standing room in Australia's smallest bar

The varnished wooden bar top shines alone at 54 centimetres wide and 142 centimetres long, and the drinking room slips in at only 138 centimetres in length with a 142 centimetre leeway in width.

It's little wonder the place stays busy, with the roadhouse sitting two kilometres below the Lynd Junction at the intersection of two main inland arteries — the Kennedy and the Gregory. These developmental roads pump colourful life into the region, bringing drillers, fossickers, explorers, heavy haulers and an occasional car rally into the Oasis for a cold one or a feed.

Most travellers cross through the ironbark country today with minimum fuss, a stark contrast to the early days when John and Carol Jones first bought the Oasis. "In 1967 the Greenvale nickel mine didn't even exist," says John, "and the roadway down to Charters Towers consisted only of two wheel ruts and rough creek crossings." He should know — he drove the first semitrailer and the first road train of bullocks over it.

Originally the Oasis began as a fuel depot for North Queensland Transport, owned by the three Kidd brothers: Don, Max and Percy. John bought out their business, ran it under the name Oasis Stock Transport, and ran steers out into cattle-fattening country such as Clermont and Charters Towers. "Loaded, it took me 12 hours down to Charters Towers, and it took 12 hours unloaded to get back," John says. Today the 252km trip takes only a few hours, give or take a few road trains and drenching downpours.

The Joneses eventually gave up the trucking side of the business to concentrate more on the roadhouse. John — who became the local fire warden, stock inspector and justice of the peace — built on from the existing log cabin and two fuel bowsers, obtaining the first merchant retail licence. As a bar was a requirement for that licence, he built one on from the existing cold room, and so became the first Oasis publican.

"The size of the bar was of no concern as there was plenty of room outside," John says. "Back in those days you would get a flask of rum, a tin of Coke and a plastic cup."