Jury taken behind the scenes of famed outback pub in trial of former manager

It’s a heaving night in the West Australian tourist town of Broome.

The weather is beginning to turn, and it is turning sticky and heavy as hundreds file into the town’s biggest pub – the Roebuck Bay Hotel.

Known colloquially as “the Roey”, the pub is home to Australia’s longest-running wet T-shirt competition and is one of the few venues in WA to still regularly employ “skimpies” – bartenders who serve drinks while dressed in lingerie or revealing costumes.

But this week another side of the pub has been on display, with the trial of former Roebuck Bay Hotel manager Stewart Patrick Burchell taking a jury behind the scenes of outback WA’s hospitality industry.

The District Court of WA has heard allegations of workers taking lines of cocaine in the pub’s bathroom, a skimpy being forced to take off an arm splint while serving beer or risk being sent home, and the forging of 417 visa documents for desperate backpackers.

Burchell has pleaded not guilty to 16 charges levelled against him by former employees of the hotel, who alleged he indecently assaulted them, and an allegation he raped one ex-employee after staff drinks one evening.

The court has been told of an environment where staff lived together on a property just behind the pub, stayed out drinking until the early hours of the morning, and occasionally took in drugs together at a nearby nightclub.

A “skimpy”, who was 19 when she worked at the pub, told the jury about how after a night drinking with her co-workers and Burchell, she became so drunk she vomited in the back alley of the pub before heading back to her accommodation to try and sleep it off.

The woman also told the jury she’d arrived at work one day with her arm in a sling after she was in a car accident a few weeks prior, but Burchell allegedly told her to remove the sling, or risk being sent home without pay.

Having travelled to Broome for work – an expense she had to foot herself before she could get the skimpy agency to reimburse her – she opted to stay.

Another staff member, who was an English backpacker at the time, alleged that when she went to work at the pub in 2020, Burchell offered to forge her payslips for her and list her as a “construction worker” at the Roey, rather than as a hospitality worker.

She was on a 417 visa and time was running out for her to find three months’ work in any of Australia’s required industries – including farming or construction – which would allow her to extend her stay in the country for a further year.

The woman also told the court that she and Burchell allegedly snorted cocaine in the pub’s toilet, where cameras wouldn’t find them, before going back out to “keep the party going”.

The woman would later allege Burchell raped her that same evening, and told the court she was scared to report his alleged behaviour because it could potentially jeopardise her visa.

“I needed the payslips in order to stay,” she said.

Another complainant worked as a security guard at the bar and said “banter” between colleagues was normal – until it wasn’t.

“A general manager has certain amount of power … and as time went on, there wasn’t so many rules,” she told the court.

“In our line of work people became much more relaxed.”

Then the comments changed and became increasingly sexual, the court was told.

“I was scared I was going to lose my job, and it’s just easier to play along,” the woman said.

Defence alleges complainants are conspiring

Burchell’s defence lawyer Alexander Mossop has told the court all six complainants were conspiring in different groups to make false allegations against his client.

Mossop alleged the skimpy bartender and a bar manager were working together to try and sue the Roebuck Bay Hotel.

He also told the court two other staff who made complaints were in a relationship, and were aiming to support each other.

Mossop also claimed two security guards were trying to gain workers’ compensation from their own contractor, and the indecent acts alleged against his client never happened.

There is no current legal action against the Roebuck Bay Hotel, and the trial continues. It is expected to run for another week.