Dookie

Dookie is a small country town nestled between two great granite outcrops and surrounded by generations of family-owned grazing and cropping properties. The soil is deep, rich, and red, and when the long warm days of autumn are broken by rains, farmers sow their grains which turn the red patchwork of ploughed paddocks a deep green as wheat and barley sprout and grow over winter. In spring, they are joined by the bright yellow blocks of flowering canola. See the landscape for yourself walking the Mulana nin iyoga walking trail Mount Major, cycling the rail trail or over a glass of wine at Rye at Tallis. In town, coffee and jelly cake at the Dookie Emporium, sampling the Dookie Burger at the General Store and a cold drink at the Gladstone Hotel should also be on your must-taste list.

A day out in Dookie

Dookie Emporium 
The sprawling Dookie Emporium is a wonderous collection of bric-a-brac, army surplus, furniture, antiques and jelly cake. It is the empire of Sol Sutherland, a former film set maker whose eye for the quirky and a gift of the gab has allowed him to turn the former Mount Major Farmers’ Co-Op into a temple of pre-loved kilts, army fatigues, crockery, rare vinyl, rock posters and myriad other collectibles. 

Sol is also part of the local arts alliance that saw the bare limbs of towering gum in the main street covered in scores of large, sculpted, deep red flowers. His little café in front of the Emporium is a light-filled space with old tables, mismatched chairs, and antique maps and Namatjira prints on the walls.

Come for the jelly cake filled with real cream, made by a lovely local lady. Sol makes thick, creamy milkshakes and toasted Turkish rolls with fillings such as tandoori chicken. Try a chunky beef pie or vego pasty, or settle with a pot of tea and a yo-yo biscuit. Out back is a BnB in a newly refurbished mid-20th century home.

Dookie General Store 
People drive a long way to get here for the Dookie Burger. It’s a $10 ciabatta bun from Higgin’s Bakery layered with cheese, beef patty, bacon, beetroot, onion, tomato, fried locally-grown Goodlookin’ Googees egg and chopped greens. The old store also has good bacon sarnies and, during the summer harvest, it remains open to feed the farmers who are bringing in the grain.

Since the 1880s, the Dookie General Store has been a town focus. Today, it has a licenced post office, branded Dookie souvenirs and a pick-and-mix lolly cabinet. Look for the sign above the door; it has the original phone number painted on the window: 17.

Gladstone Hotel
The iron lacework veranda wraps around the Gladstone Hotel, a grand old dame of a pub built in 1887. The bar has a corrugated iron façade and the original wooden door Kelvinator. Historic photos line the walls, and the original brick dome of the well sits in the beer garden outback. On Sundays, musicians play under the veranda of the bush shack stage, and you buy your beers from the bar in the tin shed. The menu is classic pub classics such as roast of the day, soup, chicken parmie, New York cut porterhouse, and a creamy, rich seafood risotto. 

CWA Park
When the women of Dookie get together, they get things done. In 1937 the local Country Women’s Association founded a park by the train line and planted scores of trees. Today, CWA park has sweeping lawns shaded by towering stone pines, phoenix palms, oaks, and elms that turn red and yellow in autumn. A small pavilion with a barbeque, benches, playground and toilets makes this a great spot for a family picnic.

Mount Major Walking Trail
Mount Major has stood looking out over the Goulburn Valley to the south and the Murray Valley to the north for millennia. It is a place of immense power and beauty, and a relatively new walk has opened the summit to walkers. From here, you can see the creeks and rivers snaking lazily through river gum forest and the different coloured farm paddocks that change from the yellow of canola in spring to the deep straw of stubble in summer. The Yorta Yorta Indigenous people have called the walk Mulana nin iyoga or Spirit of the Stone. Allow 2 hours and 20 minutes to return.

Dookie Rail Trail
This short but sweet flat gravel track gives you a 7.7km taste of Dookie’s rich farming country. To the east of Dookie, the trail meanders through the orange and olive groves of Yabba Flats. Look out for Willy the Wombat, who lives under the road drain at the third intersection. To the west, the trail enters the open cropping country with wide skies home to families of wedge-tailed eagles, kites and hawks.

Dookie Grain Silos

Built at a time when the region’s grain harvest was hauled by steam train, today Dookie’s concrete grain silos tower over the old railway line. The farmers around Dookie grow wheat, beans and canola that is shipped around the world. If you visit in late spring or early summer, you’ll find Dookie’s main street lined with trucks laden with grain destined for the new handling facility down the road.

Dookie Show
Every spring, under the old peppercorns and in the corrugated sheds, the region’s home bakers, grain growers, chicken breeders and livestock producers bring their cakes, wheat, chooks, sheep and cattle to compete for a blue ribbon at the annual Dookie Show. Come for the prize-winning sponges, and hang around for the hot dogs and horsemanship.

The Dookie Quarry

On the edge of town is an old quarry that forms a natural amphitheatre. The Dookie Quarry has become an outdoor event and concert site with performers like Sam & Sam and Ella Hooper performing in recent years. It’s private property, but follow @thedookiequarry and @jlproductions on socials to see what’s happening at this stunning site.

Back Roads

The rolling gravel roads around Dookie rise and drop with the fall of the land. Lined with ancient manna and river red gums, it’s a land of cattle grates and decorative steel gates. Old homesteads dot the landscape, and cattle and sheep quietly graze on the hill slopes while the tractors till the hills and paddocks in autumn, readying the ground to plant canola and grain.

Tallis Wine
The scenery around the Tallis property is almost as exceptional as the value and quality of the wines. Richard and Alice Tallis are wine lovers who, inspired by Dookie’s unique geology, planted a few hectares of vines to make some cases for themselves and perhaps enough to sell to the big winemakers nearby. Then Richard converted an old stable and started making his own wine to sell. It was so good they planted more vines, built a straw bale barrel hall and in 2011 they realised they needed a cellar door.

Opened in early 2012, the cellar door was designed to minimise environmental impact, connect to the landscape and provide a relaxed space to enjoy wine. Eleven years on, the building has recently been leased to locals, evolving into a new business, ‘Rye at Tallis’. This much-loved destination has transformed into a wine bar and events space, showcasing Tallis wine, local beverages and regional produce. Visit for a structured wine tasting matched with shared seasonal grazing platters.

Rye at Tallis
The views from this rural wine bar are as spectacular as the Tallis wines enjoyed here alongside other locally-made gins, beers and shared seasonal grazing platters with a focus on local ingredients. As well as a celebration of regional produce, this laid-back destination also hosts events and live music – check their website for details.