In 2009, the sale of alcohol was banned in the remote Queensland community of Mornington Island.
Over the past decade, illegal practices such as home brewing and sly grogging have plagued the "dry" island, with deadly consequences.
After years of fighting to have the ban lifted, the town tavern opened its doors last year for special events.
Local leaders say the licensed venue has provided a legitimate, safe environment for residents to consume alcohol and hope it will drive down rates of risky drinking and the crippling flow-on effects.
"Why should a person have to hide in some dark room drinking this rotgut home brew when they can very easily walk out to the tavern and enjoy the atmosphere of a bar or enjoy a beer."
Home brewing and sly grogging
The 2009 ban wasn't the end of alcohol-fuelled issues for the predominantly-Indigenous island. Instead, dangerous methods of drinking, such as home brewing, became increasingly popular.
A 2017 report into alcohol bans in remote Queensland communities found that home brewing practices caused serious health issues, such as early-onset renal failure in young people.
"When they took the alcohol away, it left us with alcoholics.
"We [at the clinic] were worried about withdrawals but no-one had withdrawals because they were still drinking," a government health services worker told researchers.
Sly grogging (the illicit sale of alcohol) also drained money from the household budgets of vulnerable communities.
The study found that, in some Queensland communities, alcohol was sold for 11 times its legal value.
In some cases, a 5-litre carton of wine was sold for $200 while a bottle of rum could cost $350.
Police also reported significant strain on resources as teams worked to foil sly-grog trades and home brewing in communities.
Hope for a new phase
Mr Barnes said opening the local tavern was the first step in helping some residents to build better relationships with alcohol.
Currently, the tavern is open for special events with limits in place on how many drinks patrons can consume.
The council hopes to open the doors more often and also introduce a carriage limit that will allow residents to take limited supplies of alcohol home.
"There has been a policy of prohibition but it has been a murky area because there has been no oversight, no contingencies around what people are consuming, how much they consume," Mr Barnes said.
"Financially, it's not about making booming sales and huge amounts of profit off the tavern.
"It's really just about helping people to mitigate their behaviour, to get along with each other, follow some guidelines around alcohol and have a good time together, de-stress, all of the things that people want to do reasonably when they're consuming alcohol.
"It's been going very, very well."
And local law enforcement agrees.
"When you look at crime in this region, a high percentage is associated with alcohol abuse," said Rhys Newton, Superintendent of the Mount Isa Police District.
"Anything that encourages people to move away from harmful alcohol consumption is a good thing.
Mr Barnes believes there needs to be more invested in rehabilitation services, rather than legislation.
"There is a vocal and evident subculture of irresponsible drinking. But those people, they're the sufferers," he said.
"If I'm a person who has an alcohol problem, I need to access services to get help for that.
"Not just a set of policies put in place that cut off legal supply of alcohol to an entire community."
