Article & Photography by ALICE ARMITAGE

Narrandera’s Mon Repos is a story of transformation: a century-old gentleman’s club, once the haunt of graziers and bankers, reborn as a bookshop and workshop where stories of all kinds are celebrated.

For Scott and Rebecca Rowlings, both teachers, the building was more than real estate. It was a chance to bring long-held dreams to life: Rebecca’s desire for a bookshop, Scott’s for a furniture studio. Today, the shelves carry more than three thousand titles, from classics to contemporary fiction, while Scott’s workshop hums with the sound of saws and chisels. The ballroom where bankers and graziers once drank whiskey and smoked cigars now hosts families browsing together, travellers stumbling into unexpected treasure, and locals proud to see heritage buildings reimagined rather than lost. The exclusivity of its past has been replaced with openness.

Mon Repos contributes to the Riverina’s tourism landscape by showing that agri-tourism is not only about food and drink. It is also about culture: the way country towns weave creativity into their fabric, drawing from history but not limited by it. Visitors might come to the Riverina for wine or wool, but they stay longer because they discover places like Mon Repos that feed their imagination as well as their appetite.

Classes offered in the workshop also provide the opportunity for those eager to participate the chance to learn skills that are generations old creating beautiful pieces out of timber, metal, glass and wool, and even making soap from scratch.

“We never planned to be here, but when the chance came, we couldn’t resist,” Rebecca says. “Narrandera has given us the life we always wanted. I love that the Riverina still lets you dream big. It has that mix of history, community, and space that makes it feel possible
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— Scott & Rebecca