Birdsville Bakery sold

Submitted: Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 09:45
ThreadID: 134439 Views:5444 Replies:9 FollowUps:10
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For $1.2Million !!!!!

The Camel Pie recipe was included in the sale.

The Birdsville Bakery, an iconic establishment in Queensland's most-remote town, is set to re-open under new ownership after it was sold for $1.2 million on March 2.

Former bakery owner and co-founder Dusty Miller handed the keys over to Townsville tour operator Martin Josselyn after 12 years of operation last week. The bakery was the first for the town, which only has a regular population of 120 people.

It's set to be back up-and-running by Easter 2017, and Josselyn has confirmed to channel 9 that the curried camel pies that have made it famous will be on the menu when doors open on April 1 (in fact, the recipe was included in the sale).
Formerly based in Townsville – around 1400km north-east of Birdsville – Josselyn has moved his 4WD tour company Adventure Australia Treks and Tours to Birdsville, with plans to expand both businesses from his base at the bakery.

"We have a tourism business, and we were looking for a tourism destination to base that business," Josselyn told 9, adding that Birdsville ticked all the boxes.
The town attracts between 40,000 and 60,000 tourists on an annual basis, many of whom travel to the area for the infamous Birdsville Races or Simpson Desert Big Red Bash. Others trickle in over the course of the regular tourist season, between March and November.

When the bakery re-opens in April, Josselyn says they'll continue to specialise in the meals that made the establishment famous – like their big breakfast or camel pies, of which he expects to sell around 15,000 over September's race weekend.

But he's also planning to open the bakery's licenced Hard Road Café in the evenings for camp oven and bistro-style dinners, with his long-time friend, French-born chef Sebastian Badey at the helm.

Despite that, he says the menu will be "nothing fancy", but it will be good.

Josselyn's wife and two youngest children are still based in Townsville for their education, while his oldest daughter works as a nurse and oldest son attends university in Brisbane. He says his wife will join him in Birdsville once a month for now, where they – and the bakery's staff – will make up around six percent of the town's entire population.

If you're in town when the bakery officially re-opens on April 1, you can join them for a "housewarming" pie party from 11am. Or, stop in to the Wirrarri Visitors Centre to book a tour.

Nine News report
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Reply By: Les - PK Ranger - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 11:43

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 11:43
Good luck to Dusty, nice little retirement fund.
He was always really busy out the back when we dropped in there, and could sometimes be a little gruff, but who could blame him working with ovens in sometimes hot weather etc.
Loved his various fares on offer, hope the quality remains.
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Reply By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 11:55

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 11:55
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How come the Birdsville Races are "infamous" and the camel Pies are "famous"?

And I already know the recipe....... "To 10kg camel meat add 50kg of curry powder (more if you've got it!)"
Cheers
Allan

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Follow Up By: Member - Jack - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 12:25

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 12:25
I was wondering the same thing regarding 'famous' and 'infamous'.
Gotta love a cliche ...

J
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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 13:09

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 13:09
Good recipe Allan, even if it is a little light on the curry.

I have a much nicer recipe for Camel.

1)get 10kg of cubed Camel, as lean as possible.
2)Tenderise for 2 hours with Jack hammer.
3)Add Curry, asian 6 spices, soy, and vinegar.
4)Simmer in a large covered pot for 16 - 20 hours.
5)Throw the entire contents of the pot in the rubbish bin.

Alternatively you can just use the camel as shock absorber rubber bushes. The ride on your 4x4 will be a little firmer though.
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:10

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:10
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I wouldn't "Throw the entire contents of the pot in the rubbish bin."

I'd throw the whole bloody lot in the bin, pot and all.

Cheers
Allan

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Follow Up By: Member - William B (The Shire) - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 11:30

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 11:30
Its like the recipe for Cockatoo,
Put the Cockatoo and a rock into a big pot.
Boil for 8 hours, after 8 hours toss out the Cockatoo and eat the rock.
William
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Reply By: MUZBRY- Life member(Vic) - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 13:10

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 13:10
Gday
I suppose ill have to go back and have another "famous Pie"
Muzbry
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:12

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:12
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I'm sure that would be very much appreciated Muz. A return customer!
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Allan

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Reply By: Member - Odog - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 15:01

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 15:01
When we were there, heard a tour operator, (camel rides/safaris) had been stuck in town, with his camels, due to the weather, was unable to get his herd out, so was negotiating to sell them to the bakery... that was enough for the wife and I to give the camel pies a miss... did do the big breakie though...
We did notice the owner was a bit gruff, when we went to get some bread off him, and asked if we can have some eggs too.. "can't have em! You can buy em!" Grumble... Grumble... wouldn't expect ya to give them to us without paying! All good! Hope all goes well for all parties for the future... Odog
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Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 16:41

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 16:41
Ex viet vet, Navy I think.
Know a mate of his.
Said hello to Darcy once, and said "such and such (his mate) says hello".
He replied "You a vet ?"
Said "no" and he proceeded to pretty much ignore me :D Ha ha.
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Follow Up By: Allan B (Sunshine Coast) - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:15

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 18:15
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I'm sure you would be a "bit gruff" too if you had to eat leftover camel pies. LOl
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Reply By: Robin Miller - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 17:00

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 17:00
Stuff the Camel pie - about 3 years ago we were there after they made a mistake and ordered 300 pumpkin pies for stock.

We Vegetarians thought that was fantastic and brought a couple, So then they threw in some more for nothing just to create fridge space.


Can't quite remember the details of the EFT fiasco , maybe someone else recalls more but the EFT machine failed and had stolen all their EFT transactions and they accepted cash only - don't know if they were ever able to prove where the blame lay.

P.S. Would be great if the Oasis café re-opened as well !
Robin Miller

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Follow Up By: Member - Odog - Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 19:31

Thursday, Mar 09, 2017 at 19:31
G'day Robin, we were there about the 13th September last year, it was cash only transactions at that time as well, might take a few years to get a technician out there.. or ATM might have gremlins... or as they say, "cash is king".. Odog
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Reply By: cookie1 - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 07:50

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 07:50
Got asked by Phil @ Mungerannie if we were headed up to Birdsville when we popped in once, loaded us up with fresh meat & vegetables for Dusty which we dropped in. I have gotta say that all the stuff was fresh and the meat looked first class, scored a couple of pies and a breakfast for our efforts.

Gruff, I call him straight forward with no BS - I like that

Cheers
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Reply By: Member - Rustygq - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 10:21

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 10:21
haha we asked if we could get a Camel pie without the curry and were told they had to have curry in to hide the taste of camel meat
Rusty

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Reply By: rumpig - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 12:40

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 12:40
I quite like their curried camel pies and grab one when ever we are in Birdsville , but realistically it could be curried anything, it's not like you taste the meat really.
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Follow Up By: Baz - The Landy - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 17:19

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 17:19
Mystery meat and rice, had a few of those meals over the years!

Cheers, Baz
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Reply By: Member - TonyV - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 18:59

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 18:59
Martin Josselyn is great bloke and genuine nice guy, he is ex- army, hometown is Townsville although born in NSW and goes for the Blues.

Been lucky to know Martin for a few years and he is looking to expand the business for evening meals as well as running some of his tours from Birdsville.
I have worked with and for Martin and ran a number of his Cape York Trips for him.

Give him a shout if you get to Birdsville

AATT tours and tag alongs
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Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 19:49

Friday, Mar 10, 2017 at 19:49
Interesting. The tours seem to be reasonable value. Some companies charge about the same and you have to provide your own vehicle, accommodation and food for the same period.

This company wanted $4000 per person for the Gunbarrel per person as a tag along. Turned out that they had never been there before.
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