Wheatbelt businesses including the Brookton Hotel share in $700,000 in regional development grants

Nine businesses throughout the Wheatbelt region have been awarded more than $700,000 as part of the State Government’s regional economic development grants program. The businesses, which included the Brookton Hotel and the Cranbrook-based Noongar Land Enterprise Group, received a combined $766,000 as part of the RED grants program, designed to help regional businesses expand. The Brookton Hotel has stood in the small Wheatbelt town since 1915 and was originally called the Club Hotel. Kerry Toop bought the hotel in 2018 and since then she and fellow licensee Graham Stanley have been restoring the hotel to its former glory. At the moment, the hotel operates as bed and breakfast accommodation but the pair still have big plans for the historic building. The State Government awarded them $65,000 to put towards the establishment of a distillery and cafe in the hotel in the eighth round of the RED grants program. Ms Toop said the plan was for the hotel to be home to a gin distillery for the Brookton Hotel to distil and sell its own brand of gin. She said the grant would be predominantly used to buy and install the specialised equipment needed for an on-site distillery. Ms Toop said the funding would make a huge difference to their continuing restoration efforts, which she said had been a labour of love over the past eight years. “Grants like these can make such a difference for small regional businesses,” she said. “It was such a surprise that we were actually selected for funding, but we’re so stoked.” The Noongar Land Enterprise Group, an Indigenous growers’ group based in Cranbrook, received $100,000 to expand its honey production, increase overall output and support access to new markets. The other seven businesses range from cafes to mechanics and received a combined $601,000. Toodyay businesses Morgan Feed Supplies and Dolly’s at the Garage cafe received $39,000 and $49,000 respectively to expand their businesses. MDP Farming in Gingin, Nature Play Solutions in Northam and Red Fox Ag in Mukinbudin received $100,000 each. Yued Aboriginal Corporation received $98,000 to establish an Aboriginal-owned maintenance business and TKB Mechanical was awarded $115,000 to establish a new mechanical workshop in Wongan Hills.