'It's amazing': Business owners unite to make Geurie great again

In the small country town of Geurie in the central west of NSW, a group of residents and business-owners are collaborating to make it a more attractive destination for locals and visitors alike.

An old building has been renovated on Buckenbah Street to become a hub for local businesses and community.

Called the Buckenbah Collective, and led by directors Claire Booth and Libby Wilson, the building provides a space for small businesses to share and collaborate.

But it's not only Ms Booth and Ms Wilson who are leading the charge to transform Geurie's shopping district. Other businesses are moving into the main street and some are refurbishing, all with a shared goal of making the town great again.

"Every single person in the main street has this new sense of energy ... It's amazing," Ms Booth told the Daily Liberal.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Ms Booth - a lawyer and farmer - wanted somewhere to sell her vegetables. She wasn't sure what the war would mean for Australia and decided to do what she could locally to increase business opportunities in the Geurie community.

She and a good friend, Eliza Whiteley (now Eliza Courts) purchased an old building on the main street - a site that had many iterations over the last century including as Alladin's Cave and French Press Cafe - and set to work renovating it.

"As it turned out, it wasn't the end of the world, the world has carried on ... " Ms Booth said.

"Over time it's evolved into a space of rejuvenation. [We thought], what can we do to make it a modern, fresh space, and still maintain the heritage and village feel?"

The team removed horse hair, put in new electrical gear, removed old linoleum from 40 years ago and put in new tiles.

Ms Whiteley embarked on a new adventure and Ms Booth bought her share of the building, continuing on with the project and recruiting Ms Wilson.

According to Ms Booth, it was a love of old buildings, and wanting to make Guerie better, that drove her and her friends to get creative.

Then, the Buckenbah Collective directors had another idea. After attending a Chamber of Commerce meeting, and hearing about the housing crisis in Dubbo, Ms Booth and Ms Wilson decided they could also put their hand to building more accommodation in Geurie.

"It showed us how we can create more affordable housing options, and we're still very much looking into how we're doing that," Ms Booth said.

She continued: "We really want to show that there's all these old lovely buildings in rural and regional NSW, and it doesn't take much to blow the dust off, put a fresh coat of paint on, put an air conditioner in."

Also in Geurie, the pub could soon have a new owner, the general store has been refurbished, and there is a new proprietor at the petrol station.

According to Ms Booth, tenants and landlords are working together to move the town forward.

Of the Buckenbah Collective, Ms Wilson said: "What we are trying to do is provide a really funky space for people to nurture and grow their businesses."

The Buckenbah directors have further plans for Geurie, including a pharmacy, a community use space, and a dump site for the caravan park - all designed to make it more attractive to visit and providing more services for locals.

Ms Booth said: "We're just trying to make Guerie as attractive as possible, for locals, for people that come and want to work in the region, for tourists. Millthorpe [between Orange and Blayney] is our inspiration - that's such a beautiful destination."

Impressionist artist Jacinta Haycock is leasing a studio space at the Buckenbah Collective. Her bright and colourful canvases took the nation by storm during the recent Buy from the Bush campaign.

Ms Haycock is also a farmer and will open the studio four days per week. She said it was a logical next step to find a gallery to sell her works which she had been selling from home.

"It worked really well and it's a lovely little space for me," Ms Haycock said.

Alongside her will be a new cafe called The Aviary Cafe, owned by Jess Wood of catering business Terre Rouge Fine Food. She said there had been "a very sympathetic renovation" of the building and she was looking forward to opening her cafe in a "really lovely, calm, modern, fresh environment".

"To start with, it'll be coffee, cakes, sandwiches, that sort of thing," Ms Wood told the Daily Liberal.

With her background in catering, she hopes to expand the cafe to offer more substantial meals using local produce.

"Geurie is an amazing little village and also has so much more to offer," she said.