There’s nothing quite like the community spirit of a small village.

Scarlet Hill, who is working on the promotion of the Neville Country Muster, left the bush for the big smoke, missed the country life and, like so many others, embarked on a return tree-change to the Central Tablelands.

Promoting the second-ever Neville Country Muster being held over Easter at The Neville pub located in the tiny village 20km south of Blayney, she recounted a recent incident that illustrates why there’s nowhere quite like home.

“It was a 30th birthday party, 60-plus people arrived, a sudden hailstorm hit, and we lost all our power… a disaster!” Scarlet recalled.

“A couple of locals then went home and got their generators for the band and for the kitchen to access water, while meals were prepared on gas with kitchen staff wearing headlights provided by locals.

“Nicole ‘Two-Hill’ Scott provided candles to put on all the tables and her husband and local farmer, Brendan Scott filled a tub of water and helped the barmaid Gayle to wash all the glasses by hand!” she added proudly.

Growing up on a property midway between Blayney and Neville and schooled at Orange’s James Sheahan, like many a country teenager, she couldn’t wait to get away, completing a fashion design course at Sydney’s University of Technology (UTS) on Broadway, but has since returned home and is now helping out at the revived local institution.

“It’s a beautiful old pub that was established in 1929, and actually appeared in the recent Stan mini-series ‘Ten Pound Poms’; it had been closed for four years prior to being purchased by cousins Joe Bishop and Luke Simmons.

"Joe and Luke have spent considerable time improving the pub with their building skills, as have prior owners. They put a deck on out the back and Joe has recently built a new bistro area and a music stage in the garden.

"Joe’s vision is to use his building skills to bring the pub to a new level; there is opportunity for live music, receptions, birthdays, weddings and bike rallies to help make Neville a bit of a destination place.”

With the local joke, “Where’s Neville? Next to Barry!” the hamlet is one of those tiny communities that have enjoyed a post-COVID influx of visitors looking for some real old-style Aussie experiences.

“It’s only got a population of 100, but it has a great history, with the bushrangers Ben Hall and Johnny Vane both operating locally. In fact the village was originally called ‘No.1 Swamp’, then ‘Macquarie’ but it was changed to ‘Neville’ for reasons that are not clear,” Scarlet explained.

The Easter April 3–5 event, being hosted on the pub’s pristine five-acre (two-hectare) surrounds, is designed to bring a real country music festival to the Central Tablelands.

“This is the second year we’ve run it, with the perspective that we don’t really have something like that here, that there’s an opportunity to bring country to a ‘destination pub’.

“We’re looking at the ‘festival crowd’ including our locals, tourism from Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Orange and the Central West, people who come for a visit to the district.”

With room for more than 100 campers on-site, the Sunday of the festival will also include a bullriding spectacular presented by Bucking Bulls Australia of whom founder and president Mick Ford is a local in the community.

“We want to make it a traditional Australian village and family venue — no pokies, no gambling,” Scarlet said.

There is an opportunity to bring other genres of music such as folk music. We have thought it could also be a place for bush poetry as well.

“There’s a kangaroo and joey that come up to the back door each day — Cookie and Ezra’, my daughter has named them — that is a real novelty for city visitors.”

For one homesick local, though, she didn’t know how much she loved the region, until after she was lured by the bright lights of the city.

“I didn’t appreciate home, until I went away... there’s no way I can’t appreciate it now,” Scarlet said.

“Neville and Blayney and surrounds, it’s just such beautiful, fertile country… tourists are regularly surprised how breathtakingly beautiful it is.”

Performers at the event include Hayney Jensen, Nikisha Priest, and Brother Hollow, for more information, go to: https://nevillemuster.com.au/