History of Mildura

The town of Mildura was established by George Chaffey in 1887 after moving to Australia. Mildura is named after the local indigenous word meaning ‘red earth’ in the local Latje Latje language.

History of Mildura Gateway Tavern

The Mildura Gateway Tavern was erected in 1989 in the beautiful surroundings of Mildura and licensed to fulfil a perceived need in the Mildura South area for a function complex servicing the immediate area for food, beverage and wagering needs with the ability to capitalise on the tourist, corporate, function and seminar markets.

The first stage of the Mildura Gateway Tavern was first opened in August 1990 and consisted of a drive through bottle shop, main bar, 220-seat Bistro and a 180-seat function room.  On 1st July 1991 the TAB was added to facilitate the growing desire for a wagering service.


The Mildura Gateway Tavern has succeeded in providing a popular bistro for lunch and dinner with the Sports Bar being accepted as the “local bar” with a spin-off from the operation of the TAB.

Further renovations took place in 1997, when the Atrium was renovated to become part of the Gold Room allowing for an increased bar in the Gold Room making it a serviceable area.
The Bistro also saw a newer servery, although had to slightly decrease the overall seating capacity to allow this to take place.
In 2004, renovations consisted of having two function style rooms added to the Fifteenth Street side of the Bistro. The first room being called the Directors Room seats approximately 45 people and the other is the Calder Room which seats approximately 65 people.
The main bar was also refurbished and has now become a Sports Bar where patrons are able to watch their favourite sports on our numerous large plasma screen televisions.

Further renovations to the Sports Bar in March 2006 saw a new room added. This can allow us to seat a further 44 people for meals and two dry bars surrounding the pool table.

After the new smoking laws for VIC were introduced on the 1st July 2007, which saw smoking inside an enclosed licensed premises prohibited, an Outdoor area was built for the needs of both smokers and non smokers alike. This quiet area features two large fixed umbrellas that cover the area and offers eight large heater panels and mist cooling system to keep the elements at bay.