Betoota on way to Birdsville from the East. Was population of 1 in 2003 when we were there and he died in about Oct 2003 if I recall. Don't know if anyone is there now.
No one there in June 2010 when we where there either. Pub is co-owned by publican of Birdsville Hotel and the publican of the Innamincka Hotel. We heard that nothing is being done with it until the road to Birdsville by-pass is determined. Races held there each year prior to Birdsville Races. The last owners grave is behind the pub.
Peter
-- Edited by Ontos45 on Monday 9th of September 2013 02:28:09 PM
Dunmowin said
03:59 PM Sep 9, 2013
Cracow, near Eidsvold in central Queensland is an interesting ghost town. Only the pub operates still, the rest of the town still stands, but no one lives there. The gold mine has recently re-opened, and they are injecting some money into the town to attract tourism. Excellent free camp has been built by the mines, three drive through sites on power and water, excellent ensuite facilities, camp kitchen and fire pit. FREE.
I'm not sure about anyone else here, does anyone have an interested in visiting Ghost Towns, those from bygone years or that which have been de-gazetted and don't appear on current maps due to this.
Most would know about Whittenoon the old asbestos town (which even though has no services and the signs to it have been removed) still has residents, and Maffra. I'm not overly interested in Ghost Towns where there is nothing to see, such as Maffra - several fires and the years have removed most if not all, traces of what once was.
As these towns don't appear on maps GPS coordinates are essential to find most of them, unless they are of some historic significance. Maybe someone here with some old maps of Australia might turn up a few that don't appear on current maps. I'm guessing you would want pre 1980/1970 maps at the very least or older.
Baz421 said
08:08 PM Sep 9, 2013
Betoota on way to Birdsville from the East. Was population of 1 in 2003 when we were there and he died in about Oct 2003 if I recall. Don't know if anyone is there now.
hako said
08:31 PM Sep 9, 2013
I've got a book called "Ghost Towns" by Barry McGowan - published in 2002 and has 246 large glossy pages full of pretty interesting stuff. Every ghost town story in the book includes it's rise and fall and what's left (if anything) today. I've also got a box of cloth maps of inland Queensland Called "Queensland Four Mile Series", about 50 of them that I got given by an old Pilot (Charlie Philp) who ran Western Air out of Charleville. They were printed in 1946 and are fascinating to read. One map has a notation that says "strange noises heard here" on a section of the map - and remember these are Qld Govt printed maps and they would not say that if it were not justified. Must check that out someday! If anyone is interested in any particular part of outback Qld, and I mean the real outback or the western half, I can email a scan of sections. I've copied 3 pics of map 34 Adavale - they are not sharp as I've had to resize down to go here....but will give the general drift.
Enjoy visiting out of the way places also, I have a list of all the one's we have visited.
Do you want the place names from any particular state or all over Oz.
The most interesting place we have visited is a uranium mine in SA.
It was stated back in 1906 and closed in 1961.
The purpose of this venture was created to mine uranium for medical use.
The Commonwealth gave a tax concession to mining companies who successfully mining Uranium.
A lot of the infrastructure is still in place in this time warp.
-- Edited by herbie on Monday 9th of September 2013 10:44:30 PM
VKPORTABLE said
11:45 PM Sep 9, 2013
What would be interesting to do with some of these old maps, and you would need maps that showed present day towns/roads, is to create a KML file of where these are all located so they could be easily found. The said KML file could be loaded into Google Earth or Maps whichever you choose.
I've just completed making two separate 8 KML maps for two radio events I participate in, which took a bit of time. It wouldn't be all that hard to do a KML of Ghost Towns provided you could accurately locate them on today's maps.
Happywanderer said
12:36 AM Sep 10, 2013
What an interesting idea. I like photographing old churches and pubs. Didn't even think about there being ghost towns out there. Will have to go looking.
Gerty Dancer said
12:43 AM Sep 10, 2013
A really interesting ghost town is Farina in SA, where a group of volunteers is working to restore some of it.
countryroad said
01:06 AM Sep 10, 2013
Some fascinating places here.
When doing Family History I visited Canonba, on Duck Creek it's out from Nyngan. There's a large rock with a plaque and some old bits, broken bricks etc. Cobb and Co. used to stop there. It just seems so far from anywhere. Probably 30-40 km from Nyngan.
Night would have been very dark, something else to take on board when travelling alone. Just walking around with no distractions imagining what it was like almost impossible for us now. A few more places in the area to find.
Maybe Duck Creek is almost part of the Macquarie Marshes.
I do have an older map of NSW
NSW Road and Rail Atlas 2nd edition road distances in km and miles so must be 1960-70's.
Cheers Robyn
-- Edited by countryroad on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 01:13:11 AM
Nelly said
01:25 AM Sep 10, 2013
I am interested in all 'that stuff'- love looking at old buildings etc. Hill End is sort of a ghost town too I suppose - great little place - happy camping.
Beth54 said
01:35 AM Sep 10, 2013
Me too. I love poking around old buildings, taking photos and finding out the history of a place.
hako said
01:56 AM Sep 10, 2013
VKPORTABLE - excuse my ignorance but what is a KML file/map?
Regards
Sheba said
02:18 AM Sep 10, 2013
hako wrote:
One map has a notation that says "strange noises heard here" on a section of the map - and remember these are Qld Govt printed maps and they would not say that if it were not justified.
Would love to know where that is hako.
Cheers,
Sheba.
Sheba said
02:21 AM Sep 10, 2013
Going OT for a minute VKPORTABLE. I'm also interested in Unusual Things and Phenomena. Will be doing some serious searching when I do get going.
Cheers,
Sheba.
Gerty Dancer said
02:53 AM Sep 10, 2013
Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???
Also sorry to go OT.
Cloak said
03:37 AM Sep 10, 2013
Gerty Dancer wrote:
Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???
A very good explanation of the Min Min Lights can be found here
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4133
Enjoy
Sheba said
04:18 AM Sep 10, 2013
Gerty Dancer wrote:
Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???
Also sorry to go OT.
Haven't seen them myself Gerty, but have met a couple of different people who say they have. Have seen other lights though, among other things.
Sheba - I'll have a look back thru the maps and find that bit about strange noises - I cannot remember what map and I have 50 maps and each is 4ft X 3ft but I will have a go and post back.
I've also got a book somewhere that is about towns that no longer exist and sometimes because whilst they were mapped out and streets etc named the town died before it was built. It gave lat and long of the town and also street maps for streets that never were built. I'll look in the ceiling for that one.
Regards
Nelly said
05:42 PM Sep 10, 2013
Do you think we could put together a list of 'ghost towns' - where they are, what is there etc. then if anyone interested could visit - just an idea!! - happy camping
johnq said
07:07 PM Sep 10, 2013
Beth54 wrote:
Sheba wrote:
Haven't seen them myself Gerty, but have met a couple of different people who say they have. Have seen other lights though, among other things.
Cheers,
Sheba.
When I eventually get back to Rocky, I'd love to go to the Criterion Hotel with you...I think that's the one with the ghost.
Some of those Rockhampton hotels have very interesting histories, especially during the US army times in WW2. Fortunes were made apparently.
Just to add, some of us might also interested in old military installations as well as other infrastructure. Much of what was there around Rockhampton has been torn down but some remain.
-- Edited by johnq on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 07:10:37 PM
Beth54 said
07:39 PM Sep 10, 2013
Sheba wrote:
Haven't seen them myself Gerty, but have met a couple of different people who say they have. Have seen other lights though, among other things.
Cheers,
Sheba.
When I eventually get back to Rocky, I'd love to go to the Criterion Hotel with you...I think that's the one with the ghost.
VKPORTABLE said
07:43 PM Sep 10, 2013
hako wrote:
VKPORTABLE - excuse my ignorance but what is a KML file/map?
Regards
A KML file is that used by Google Maps/Earth, and probably others. You can add place-marks to the map. So for example if say for example I started a base 'Ghost Town' KML file, anyone could download it and add additional place-marks and add relevant info to existing ones. By default, at least on my computer clicking on a KML opens Google Earth, although you can open Google Maps and then load the KML file (Google Maps is the easiest to work on KML's, Earth is a bit painful).
If you were going to do a 'community' KML Map File there would have to be some ground rules on what is classed as a Ghost Town and what additional info could be added, as I don't think additional info such as 'seen some very colourful flowers' is really of benefit.
I've done a bit of looking around the net, and noted that the 'Ghost Towns' listing on Wikipedia isn't 100% accurate, the locations for the towns is sometimes thousands of miles out having towns from say WA listed as been located in QLD and so on.
Also, there is little value in marking a 'Ghost Town' on a map if there is nothing there to see. WA has a large collection of deserted towns from the pre-1900's Gold Rush era.
Ro said
12:48 AM Sep 11, 2013
OMG.. that's all incredibly fascinating and cant wait to start my adventures (long way off yet).
Please, please, please document it all before it all is lost.
Cheeers
Ro
Gerty Dancer said
01:26 AM Sep 11, 2013
Welcome to the forum Ro. Theres potential ghost towns all over the country, it seems that lotsa little towns have boarded up shops and empty derelict houses. There'll always be ghost towns.
Sheba said
02:04 AM Sep 11, 2013
hako wrote:
Sheba - I'll have a look back thru the maps and find that bit about strange noises -
Thanks hako. I appreciate that.
Cheers,
Sheba.
hako said
03:29 AM Sep 11, 2013
Sheba wrote:
hako wrote:
SNIP
Thanks hako. I appreciate that.
Cheers,
Sheba.
Sheba - just spent a few hours poring over the maps - 45th one I found it! What I remembered of the wording was not quite exact (it's been about 40 years). The actual wording is:
"Note:- Strange subterranean sounds often heard here like the roll of Artillery" ......you don't expect to see this on a government map that's from the prim and proper 40's.
I'll do a pic of the actual map in the morning when the suns up (better light). The location of the sounds are near Twin Hills. Did a bit of Googling on this as well and found a newspaper article from 1926 which reports on these sounds.
These maps are really fascinating - many of the subdivisions have names like Afghanistan, Texas, Gravesend, Belarus, Solferino - many seem to be named after the Great War.
Also was looking at a 1938 map of Bedourie - about 10 miles south of the Town, a position is marked as "Site of old Native Police Barracks" - wouldn't that be a fascinating place to
visit...scratch around the dirt and try and find traces of the barracks that were "old" in 1938. Even if there is nothing at all left just standing in the location and using your imagination gives you a real feeling of being a part of the country. Better stop this as I'm rambling!
Will post the rest in the morn.
Regards
wendyv said
03:38 AM Sep 11, 2013
Gerty Dancer wrote:
Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???
Also sorry to go OT.
The Driver saw a Min Min light phenomenon in the Kimberley, in 1993. We were camped by Camp Creek, part way to the Mitchell Plateau.
GypsyBob said
08:59 AM Sep 11, 2013
There are many abandoned small ghost towns in the WA goldfields. Without the lure of gold, there's absolutely no reason for any sane indivual to live in such a dry desolate area :)
This page on Wikipedia has links to and locations for about 50 ghost towns.
No one there in June 2010 when we where there either. Pub is co-owned by publican of Birdsville Hotel and the publican of the Innamincka Hotel. We heard that nothing is being done with it until the road to Birdsville by-pass is determined. Races held there each year prior to Birdsville Races. The last owners grave is behind the pub.
Peter
-- Edited by Ontos45 on Monday 9th of September 2013 02:28:09 PM
Cracow, near Eidsvold in central Queensland is an interesting ghost town. Only the pub operates still, the rest of the town still stands, but no one lives there. The gold mine has recently re-opened, and they are injecting some money into the town to attract tourism. Excellent free camp has been built by the mines, three drive through sites on power and water, excellent ensuite facilities, camp kitchen and fire pit. FREE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracow,_Queensland
Some images below, sorry don't have an image of the free camp.
-- Edited by Dunmowin on Monday 9th of September 2013 04:00:26 PM
I'm not sure about anyone else here, does anyone have an interested in visiting Ghost Towns, those from bygone years or that which have been de-gazetted and don't appear on current maps due to this.
Most would know about Whittenoon the old asbestos town (which even though has no services and the signs to it have been removed) still has residents, and Maffra.
I'm not overly interested in Ghost Towns where there is nothing to see, such as Maffra - several fires and the years have removed most if not all, traces of what once was.
As these towns don't appear on maps GPS coordinates are essential to find most of them, unless they are of some historic significance. Maybe someone here with some old maps of Australia might turn up a few that don't appear on current maps. I'm guessing you would want pre 1980/1970 maps at the very least or older.
Betoota on way to Birdsville from the East. Was population of 1 in 2003 when we were there and he died in about Oct 2003 if I recall. Don't know if anyone is there now.
I've also got a box of cloth maps of inland Queensland Called "Queensland Four Mile Series", about 50 of them that I got given by an old Pilot (Charlie Philp) who ran Western Air out of Charleville.
They were printed in 1946 and are fascinating to read. One map has a notation that says "strange noises heard here" on a section of the map - and remember these are Qld Govt printed maps and they would not say that if it were not justified. Must check that out someday!
If anyone is interested in any particular part of outback Qld, and I mean the real outback or the western half, I can email a scan of sections.
I've copied 3 pics of map 34 Adavale - they are not sharp as I've had to resize down to go here....but will give the general drift.
Enjoy visiting out of the way places also, I have a list of all the one's we have visited.
Do you want the place names from any particular state or all over Oz.
The most interesting place we have visited is a uranium mine in SA.
It was stated back in 1906 and closed in 1961.
The purpose of this venture was created to mine uranium for medical use.
The Commonwealth gave a tax concession to mining companies who successfully mining Uranium.
A lot of the infrastructure is still in place in this time warp.
-- Edited by herbie on Monday 9th of September 2013 10:44:30 PM
What would be interesting to do with some of these old maps, and you would need maps that showed present day towns/roads, is to create a KML file of where these are all located so they could be easily found. The said KML file could be loaded into Google Earth or Maps whichever you choose.
I've just completed making two separate 8 KML maps for two radio events I participate in, which took a bit of time. It wouldn't be all that hard to do a KML of Ghost Towns provided you could accurately locate them on today's maps.
Some fascinating places here.
When doing Family History I visited Canonba, on Duck Creek it's out from Nyngan. There's a large rock with a plaque and some old bits, broken bricks etc. Cobb and Co. used to stop there. It just seems so far from anywhere. Probably 30-40 km from Nyngan.
Night would have been very dark, something else to take on board when travelling alone. Just walking around with no distractions imagining what it was like almost impossible for us now. A few more places in the area to find.
Maybe Duck Creek is almost part of the Macquarie Marshes.
I do have an older map of NSW
NSW Road and Rail Atlas 2nd edition road distances in km and miles so must be 1960-70's.
Cheers
Robyn
-- Edited by countryroad on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 01:13:11 AM
Me too. I love poking around old buildings, taking photos and finding out the history of a place.
Regards
Going OT for a minute VKPORTABLE. I'm also interested in Unusual Things and Phenomena. Will be doing some serious searching when I do get going.
Cheers,
Sheba.
Also sorry to go OT.
A very good explanation of the Min Min Lights can be found here
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4133
Enjoy
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4133
I've also got a book somewhere that is about towns that no longer exist and sometimes because whilst they were mapped out and streets etc named the town died before it was built. It gave lat and long of the town and also street maps for streets that never were built. I'll look in the ceiling for that one.
Regards
Some of those Rockhampton hotels have very interesting histories, especially during the US army times in WW2. Fortunes were made apparently.
Just to add, some of us might also interested in old military installations as well as other infrastructure. Much of what was there around Rockhampton has been torn down but some remain.
-- Edited by johnq on Tuesday 10th of September 2013 07:10:37 PM
When I eventually get back to Rocky, I'd love to go to the Criterion Hotel with you...I think that's the one with the ghost.
A KML file is that used by Google Maps/Earth, and probably others. You can add place-marks to the map. So for example if say for example I started a base 'Ghost Town' KML file, anyone could download it and add additional place-marks and add relevant info to existing ones. By default, at least on my computer clicking on a KML opens Google Earth, although you can open Google Maps and then load the KML file (Google Maps is the easiest to work on KML's, Earth is a bit painful).
If you were going to do a 'community' KML Map File there would have to be some ground rules on what is classed as a Ghost Town and what additional info could be added, as I don't think additional info such as 'seen some very colourful flowers' is really of benefit.
I've done a bit of looking around the net, and noted that the 'Ghost Towns' listing on Wikipedia isn't 100% accurate, the locations for the towns is sometimes thousands of miles out having towns from say WA listed as been located in QLD and so on.
Also, there is little value in marking a 'Ghost Town' on a map if there is nothing there to see. WA has a large collection of deserted towns from the pre-1900's Gold Rush era.
Please, please, please document it all before it all is lost.
Cheeers
Ro
The Driver saw a Min Min light phenomenon in the Kimberley, in 1993. We were camped by Camp Creek, part way to the Mitchell Plateau.
There are many abandoned small ghost towns in the WA goldfields. Without the lure of gold, there's absolutely no reason for any sane indivual to live in such a dry desolate area :)
This page on Wikipedia has links to and locations for about 50 ghost towns.