Click here to read more about the latest sale

The motel was built in 1960 by single-mother Ruth Odgers, a feat all the more remarkable at a time when there were not many businesswomen or developers.

Recounting the story is her daughter Daphne Wilson who was 16 years old at the time and who still lives in Narooma.

Mrs Wilson said she and her mother, who was a real estate agent in Sydney, used to come down to Narooma on holidays and they owned a holiday house here.

“She would go down fishing and see the ‘No vacancy’ sign on the Tree Motel and thought that would be a good business opportunity,” she said.

So she decided to build a 13-room motel on land at the corner of Harrington Road and the Princes Highway, naming it the “Highway Motel”.

Back then banks were reluctant to make a loan to a single mother and so she was forced to seek out private investment to pay the builder, who was Neville Gough and another legend of Narooma.

In the beginning there was also the restaurant, the only licensed establishment in Narooma, and also the manager’s residence where they lived.

The establishment proved so popular that in 1966 they expanded to 29 units and also built a pool.

“There used to be people sleeping in the cars in the car park hoping there had been a cancellation overnight,” Mrs Wilson said.

The town back then did not have a sewage system and the campgrounds when it rained often flooded making a horrible mess with campers coming down with gastroenteritis, placing even more demand on their rooms.

In 1970, Ms Odgers acquired an extra block to the rear of the motel and by 1974/1975, the motel had expanded to 51 units.

The mother and daughter motel owners were at the heart of the community and among Mrs Odger’s other accomplishments were acquiring the land for and getting the IRT Dalmeny retirement village built. The entrance road to that facility is named “Ruth Place” in her honour.

Together with her daughter, she was also instrumental in setting up the Narooma Preschool, still going strong today, and also helped found Narooma’s first library, back then located next to the Kinema and she was library member No. 1.

The Highway Motel was an important business and focal point in Narooma and some of the town’s long-term residents have had some association or worked there, including Lindsay and Jeanette Quonoey, Pat Eaton and Kristen Stuart, who provided us with a postcard from the old motel. 

Mrs Odgers sold the motel to the De La Salle Brothers in 1989, who used it as both a motel and also a conference centre for their meetings.

After the sale to the order of Catholic brothers, there was a bit of an interesting accident at the motel in 1999 involving a fire that destroyed records.

The Sydney Morning Herald in 2004 reported: “The day after a motel in Narooma, on the South Coast, burnt to the ground, its manager was to face an audit that would show she had fudged the figures, an inquest has been told. The cause of the fire at the Lasallian Centre Motel in 1999 would remain a mystery, after financial records went up in flames with part of the building, the inquest found.” Read more

The restaurant and office area were rebuilt after the fire and it continued to operate as a motel until the LaSallians decided to close it down. Read more: Shock announcement: La Salle to close

The motel has now been vacant for about four years and much of the equipment out of the rooms was allegedly stripped out to be used in the De La Salle Brothers’ missions in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere.

The motel again made it to the news headlines when the Brothers wrote to the NSW Premier offering the facility up as a temporary home for Syrian refugees, although that never option came to pass possibly due to the lack of support structures in the town.

The new owner, businessman Harvey Ball who built the Shearwater apartments on the Narooma Flat, has plans to turn the complex into apartments, as the motel business model that served Mrs Odgers so well for all those years is no longer such a hot prospect.

Unlike the old days when visitors were lining up for a motel room, these days they would much prefer a camping spot or holiday house. Long live the Highway Motel!

Comments from Facebook:

I worked for Mrs Odgers when I came home from Boarding School each December/January. I waited tables in the restaurant and always got a laugh when those who ordered seafood didn't know what to do with the basin of water with a slice of lemon in it , many drank it not knowing it was to wash their fingers after peeling prawns or lobster. My last job for the day/night was to set the breakfast trays for the rooms and use scissors to cut the rind off the bacon. This was back in the 60's when I was in my early teens. Loved it.

​Jeanette Waters 

 Alot of fun times from the 70s and 80s when my Mum Margaret Rush worked there.

I loved going over to our friends, the Wilsons house and playing with Adam and Simon.

Sneaking into the restuarant kitchen with Adam and getting bowls of whipped cream from the can and smothering it with Milo and going down to eat by the pool. 

Sometimes my friends and I snuck into the pool over the fence, tsk tsk.

The restaurant served the best Lobster Mornay EVER and prawn cocktails. And lets not forget the after dinner mints, what a treat. 

And the old piano upstairs that played sheet music (pianola)? 

I remember Mr Alan Wilson my Dads good friend, being one of the funniest men i knew.

Just a few treasured memories. 

Natalie Savage

Adam Wilson and Simon Wilson might have some . great memories mucking around in the pool with Stephen Bunney and Dave Lawrence as kids.

Jason Holder 

We use to have rotary dinners and swimming club presentations remember fondly of running around the restaurant as a young girl. Also use to clean rooms there.

Jennifer Oliver 

My mummy cleaned that motel for years, she also did nights at the restaurant for years . . I practically grew up in that motel . . ah the memories . .Yes, Mrs O's cranky little chowowa dog . . lol . . yes, you two got into mischief, innocent mischief . . lol . . but always had cheeky looks on your faces when you were together . . great memories

Michelle Rossol 

The good old Highway Motel.smile emoticon Had a second job there working in the restaurant at night in the 80's. Narelle Codrington was chef and Grace London and I were running around serving the floor with Daphne Wilson running the show! She was amazing and to think I was so scared of her as an art teacher because she would yell at you even when she liked your work smile emoticon PS Still doing my art Daphne!. Lots of fun times....What happened at The Highway stayed The Highway LOL!

Susan Stadler 

My Nanna speaks fondly of the time she worked there at the time she was June Wills she got married and became Shears but I've been told so many stories of her time there

Racheal Lowe 

Was our special one night out every year when we came for holidays in late 60's into the 70's.

Karen Spackman 

They had delicious food. Rota react used to hold its meetings there as well.

Kathleen Kennelly