A former NBL and Olympics hero is behind two landmark Central Victorian revivals.

Dusk in Hepburn Springs is always beautiful, but it’s better now the Palais has reopened. Marquee lights flicker on above Main Road and the old theatre - dark and abandoned before it reopened just after Easter - hums with life once more. For Chris Anstey, that scene captures exactly why he and his team took on the challenge of reopening the historic venue.

“There’s nothing quite like the feeling of driving down Main Road and the theatre’s lit up,” he says. “There’s a show on. It’s welcoming. It feels good.”

Anstey, a former professional basketballer, now sits behind two of Central Victoria’s most significant revivals: the Hepburn Palais and Hotel Trentham. Though one is a live music venue and the other a classic country pub, he sees them both as places that anchor communities.

“What a pub and a live music venue provides the community is clearly different, but at some level, it still brings people together,” he says. “In both venues, our aim was to bring back what we thought was a really important part of the community.”

That sense of stewardship runs strongly through Hotel Trentham. Before purchasing the pub, which had been boarded up for 18 months, Anstey found himself repeatedly returning to the town - eating at local restaurants, watching footy and netball and spending time among locals before ever signing paperwork.

“We found ourselves immersed in the community before we officially bought the pub,” he says.

The hotel had been operating as The Plough but restoring the original identity mattered when the doors finally swung open again in 2024. “We wanted to give the pub back to the town,” he says. “We almost see ourselves as custodians of a pub that’s been around a long time before we came.”

Its centenary celebrations later this year will reflect that thinking. Rather than staging a polished tourism event, Anstey plans to focus on the pub’s connection to locals, recreating historical moments and celebrating the role it has played across generations.

“It’s going to be for the pub and for the locals,” he says. “We’ll recreate a few things. We’ll celebrate the pub.”

At the Palais, which coincidentally also celebrates its centenary this year, the challenge was different but the philosophy similar.

“To drive to a region and see such an historic building closed and boarded up is sad,” he says.

The restoration involved major sound and lighting upgrades, structural improvements and careful modernisation, but Anstey resisted the temptation to overwork the venue’s identity.

“We didn’t want to recreate it,” he says. “We wanted to keep the Palais alive without adding too much of our own personality to it.”

Locals quickly introduced him to one of the theatre’s hidden treasures: its original sprung wooden dance floor, now tested enthusiastically during packed gigs.

“To see people dancing in an old building like that is really great,” he says.

For Anstey, both venues represent something increasingly rare outside metropolitan areas: shared spaces where people gather, connect and participate in local life. “They both provide such a crucial gathering space for people,” he says. “They form a hub for small communities.”

The spirit of community connection has seen the Palais encourage guests to spend their money in the town. “We do a few snacks, and we do drinks, but our hope is that people who attend our shows support local eateries as well. Explore the region, find restaurants, find bars and pubs to eat at and make a night out of being in the area itself, not just the one venue,” says Anstey. “We certainly didn't want to come in and step on toes. We’re all about supporting local businesses as well.”

Hotel Trentham

31 High Street, Trentham

hoteltrentham.com.au

Hepburn Palais

111 Main Road, Hepburn Springs

hepburnpalais.com.au

STORY BY LARISSA DUBECKI

PHOTOS BY KAIYA RAE