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

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.

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 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.

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.

hako wrote:

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 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.

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Would love to know where that is hako.

Cheers,

Sheba.

 

Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???

Also sorry to go OT.

Gerty Dancer wrote:

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Hey Sheba, have you seen the Min Min lights? do you know anybody who has???

Also sorry to go OT.

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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.

 

 

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

Beth54 wrote:

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Sheba wrote:

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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.

 

 

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 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.  

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 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

hako wrote:

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VKPORTABLE - excuse my ignorance but what is a KML file/map?

Regards

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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.

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 wrote:

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hako wrote:

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SNIP

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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

 

 

 

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