Ghost Towns.

sandsmere · Guru

RE: Ghost Towns.

Sheba · Guru

Thank you so much for that Info. Denis. All going in my "Special" file.

Cheers,

Sheba.

-- Edited by Sheba on Wednesday 11th of September 2013 07:18:03 PM

hako · Guru

VKPORTABLE wrote:
A KML file is that used by Google Maps/Earth, and probably others.
SNIP
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.

Thanks for bit about KML files - re the marking of a ghost town that has nothing to see, some people find just 'being there' to be enough without having to see something physical.

Thinking about it, I always thought a ghost town was a derelict dump with ghosts haunting it, however maybe it really means that there is only a ghost of a town left and you cannot see ghosts so there is nothing to see.

Regards

hako · Guru

Sheba - here is the map of the place that rumbles. Notice in the top right hand side it mentions a highway - it's name is the "Northern Inland Highway" and went from Charters Towers to Clermont...wonder if it exists today. Also bottom left is "Sir T.Mitchell's Camp 1845"....I wonder why that is mentioned. This map was printed in 1947.

I've also attached a scan of the map of Bedourie for those interested.
The links are to newspapers from 1926 re the rumbles.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/20997156

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/21018938

Regards

Ontos45 · Guru

Hako wrote:

"it's name is the "Northern Inland Highway" and went from Charters Towers to Clermont...wonder if it exists today."

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If it's the one I'm thinking of was there as a dirt road 25 yrs. ago. Was a shop, fuel and camping on a creek about a 1/3rd of the way down from Charlies Trousers. Believe its tarred now.

Peter

herbie · Guru

Cracow in QLD ,is one of those places that has slowly faded into a kind of ghost town,but with a mining company buying up big and I guess demolishing what buildings that a left there,i have heard that they are going to restore and retain three of the building,and one would think the pub would stay (but gee I bet the owner of the pub wishes it would be brought by the mining company ) The pub is owned by Fred Brophy, yes the owner of the nostalgic sport of tent boxing.Do not know if he still takes it out to the Birdsville races, last time we were at the races out there he was there.

The bar walls and ceiling in the pub are covered in the usual array of memorabilla from who knows where.

You get an incredible good feed the night was were at the pub Fred was on duty in the kitchen,the meal was so huge we didn't have to east for a few days.

Would be a shame to see this iconic pub disappear.

The storey of the ghost who lives up stairs is another storey.

Mount Britton near Nebo QLD is another ghost town it was a thriving town ship in the height of the gold mining era 1883.

It boasted a post and telegraph office /Lands office/School of arts/numerous hotels /stores/ butchers/banks and a population of 1500.By 1884 the town was declining with the best gold areas already mined and by 1887 most of the businesses closed and mining ceased in 1890.

To day it still holds some evidence of this once prosperous mining town with many old mining equipment and materials still on site.There is also displays and several rustic shelters with high quality period prints and an info board on the history.

There is also a lookout to view the area also.

Why there is never much of any building left in these boom town of back then is because most of the building were just tents or made from bark and slabs of timber,and when the minerals run out they just pulled what ever it they were using for business or housing and moved it onto the next location.

-- Edited by herbie on Thursday 12th of September 2013 11:54:00 PM

-- Edited by herbie on Friday 13th of September 2013 12:10:12 AM

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Nelly wrote:
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

Sure we could. Just a word of warning before everyone get's over excited. The listings that are on Wiki are not 100% accurate, with some Ghost Towns appearing in the middle of suburbia and others in states there not meant to be in.

If we as a collective were to develop such a list two things would be needed I should think:

1. GPS coordinates in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds (S/E) - This would be essential in order to find these as they are not on today's maps unless they have become a tourist thing.
2. Maybe an over-view photo of the area just to help people identify the area.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

hako wrote:
I always thought a ghost town was a derelict dump with ghosts haunting it, however maybe it really means that there is only a ghost of a town left and you cannot see ghosts so there is nothing to see.

The latter is correct - a ghost of it's former self.
Although I am sure there are those who will claim these towns are inhabited by the 'un-dead' - yeah silly buggers like us sniffing around them :)
I have heard that there are some which are said to be haunted, it is probably more appropriate to say that the said visitors were the ones who were haunted.

Some of these old towns are as you say, derelict dumps. Some that are called Ghost Towns are not - to me a Ghost Town is a town that is no longer inhabited, with the exception of Whittenoon. I do a lot of photography of old buildings, some of which are no longer standing or in existence.

hako · Guru

VKPORTABLE wrote:
I do a lot of photography of old buildings, some of which are no longer standing or in existence.

They must be real ghost towns! smile ...but I know what you mean. Sometimes there is just a few bits of bitumen left or the curse of Queensland - the bouganvillea.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

I find myself checking out old gravestones in these derelict places. I'm going to stop doing that though because I get so upset that there are so many children's graves. Gee life must have been hard.

dorian · Guru

VKPORTABLE wrote:
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.

Anyone can edit/correct Wikipedia ...

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

dorian wrote:
Anyone can edit/correct Wikipedia ...

Sure can, but they need the correct information in order to do so. I was more making people aware that before they go tearing off in search of days gone by that the Wiki list may lead them astray and nowhere near their planned target in some cases.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Gerty Dancer wrote:
I find myself checking out old gravestones in these derelict places. I'm going to stop doing that though because I get so upset that there are so many children's graves. Gee life must have been hard.

I tend to do this as well, not sure why. I look at the dates/ages etc. You're right, high percentage of kids graves are prominent in these older areas, even more populated towns that have been around for many years will have them as well. Back in those days Diphtheria raged though communities and with it took the lives of a lot of kids, you could safely say that most aged under 2 years old fell victim to this. And yes if you think about it to much it can be rather depressing and consume you.

I did a fair bit of work at a remote cemetery once, Geological survey's to locate un-marked sites. Due to the chosen site of this cemetery there were a hand-full of graves which had to be exhumed and re-located due to land slippage. Not an easy task. I was a bit shocked to find that a lot of the coffins back in those days were made from steel/iron. As they were to heavy to remove easily, they were opened and remains re-established into a modern day coffin and then re-located. The majority of these graves were of children.

It was worth-while work I feel, whilst none of these grave-sites had any living relatives it was still nice to know there were enough people prepared to take care of these old sites and do some pretty unenviable work to ensure their preservation as such.

The sad fact is a lot of these smaller cemeteries simply don't have the required funds in their trust to do a lot of maintenance work and repairs to head-stones and formers are often not done due to the high cost involved in doing so. It's is excessively hard for them to get Government grants for works as well, there is a whole stack of politics and paper-work to go through. Basically if the cemetery is un-used or very rarely used (as in no new residents) then getting grants is next to impossible unless there is some cultural or historical significant factor in play. A lot of community groups are exceptional in this area, and do often assist with upkeep. Vandalism is also a big problem in remote cemeteries.

I was camping near one once, and this lead me to been interviewed by local police.
Was about 1AM when I heard the sound of clanging against metal - On sticking my head out I seen two young lads smashing wrought iron fencing and headstones with axes.

"This can't be allowed to continue" I thought - so I armed myself with my trusty lump of pipe and marched over and asked them what the hell they were doing, to which I was told to ****off, I didn't expect a nice greeting that's for sure. One of them approached me and was going to take a swing at me, I got in first and he got a good whack to the head with the said pipe I was carrying. The second clown dragged his mate back to their car and they took off, only after damaging another headstone as a parting shot.

I went back to bed, thinking that was it and they wouldn't be back - they didn't come back, a few hours later police did though, keen to charge me with assault. I explained what had transpired and admitted to what I had done and said I would do it again if needed. After showing the police officers the extent of damage they caused they weren't so keen on pursuing me. These two clowns ended up been convicted on a host of charges.

This is the extreme I have seen, although I have seen people climbing over grave-stones, peering down holes which rabbits have made and do all sorts of weird things.
There is definitely some strange people amongst us that walk the earth that's for sure.

Ontos45 · Guru

Good onya mate, glad you did not get charged but goes to show that if we "stick to or guns" we all may make a change and get these low life's out of circulation.

Peter

Nelly · Guru

Cemeteries do hold a lot of information - if you have the time to look. Yes there were a lot of children that died of various causes - it must have been hard for the families. I recently looked at a few graves at the Moree cemetery and there was a child 2 years old and then her sibling a new baby - so sad. Good on you VKPortable for standing up to those two young lads - it would have been a bit of a worry for you though - were you there on your own? What joy do these people get out of doing this sort of thing? Still would be great to do the ghost town file though. Happy camping.

herbie · Guru

If you ever get to White Cliffs go take a wonder through the childrens cemetery ,it is truly a reminder of the heart ache these pioneering families endured.

Also the cemetery out at Wittenoon asbestos mine site father and sons laid to rest side by side from working in such a place.

On the other side of the humour regarding head stones and cemeteries Coober Pedy is a stand alone place for this.

rik · Member

Stewart, if you go ahead with the KML (and this goes for all posters) I have a detailed set of AUSLig maps dating between 1958 to 1975 some digital stored and some paper in 1:50K to 1:250K plus a VERY detailed set of 1952 maps of the Murray for the paddle steamer captains. I think they're about 1:7K and give all as if one is a sea farer! Now there's some interesting history! Used them when I canoed the Murray in the 60's. Found lots of interesting stuff. Have now returned to SA from a decade in Qld, but travel a lot with work and play - more play now! Windy as here at KadinaSA atm.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Rik;

Those maps would be invaluable in finding old de-gazetted towns. I will get to work on a starter KML in the next few weeks, at the present I am finishing off another KML file on National Parks in Australia for a radio thing I am participating in, so once that is done I will start on the Ghosties.

If anyone has been to any and has GPS coordinates - or at worst extremely detailed 'how-to-find' directions I will add them as well, just PM me with those details.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Just as an update, I have started working on a map for Australian Ghost Towns, so I would greatly appreciate some input. GPS Coordinates is obviously the best. Failing this exceptionally concise directions to said locations.

I've found another site that has a large number of Ghost Towns listed, unfortunately the creator of said site it seems is a little geographically challenged.

One town in particular, Abbbot's is listed as been 25 Km to the North of Meekatharra - yet the GPS Coordinates provided put it 380 Km SW.
It was gazetted in 1900 - I don't have any history on the town but it would be reasonable to suspect it was short-lived, so maps from 1901-1910 should have it marked.

25 Km to the North of Meekatharra puts you into some pretty rough terrain, from what I can see thus far it doesn't seem to be all that promising. There is a track into the general area of 25KN, and it appears to have been un-driven for some time.

Geologically it appears to be promising with all the right features in place for a gold or copper mine. Maybe someone here may have some old maps dating back to the 1901-1910 era could locate it.

After a lot of low-elevation scanning of the area I did come up with one possible location, although it's nowhere near the 25K North marker.
There appears to be some sort of 'structure' around 8 K to the West of Highway 95 (line of sight). Whether this is remnants of the old town or someone's existing abode I don't know, although it is in close proximity to what is 25 K to the North of Meekatharra. From the Satellite image the best I can tell is that it looks like an old shearing or hay shed, whatever it is it is about 8x6 meters in size. 26°21'29.90"S 118°32'7.46"E

If you look this up on Google Earth you will notice several tracks that go nowhere but to what appears to be old creek beds. I will take another look at this later when my Internet speeds up a bit as it is painfully slow trying to load the maps right now.

This would be one for the serious adventurers. If this structure is indeed the site of the old town it appears to have weathered the wrath of time well.

hako · Guru

Another update - found one of my books on this very subject - this one is called:
"Angor to Zillmanton - stories of North Queensland's deserted towns" by Colin Hooper...my edition is 4th 2002.
Anyway, it's a large book, 465 pages and has hundreds of abandoned towns in the north part of Queensland.
An example:
Stannary Hills Lat 17 19 00 S Long 145 13 20 E Title Deed reference from the Lands Department Volume No. 7 Folio No. 222
It has 4 old pictures and a 'today' picture, a town street map with block numbers etc and a history on the rise and fall of the town including common surnames, populations and gossip. All very interesting.
Many have photos of the ruins.

I'm sure most libraries will hold a copy.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Thanks Hako, I will try and chase it up.

Happywanderer · The Master

I read somewhere the other night there is a ghost town near Rushworth in Victoria. Called Whroo. Will check it out next time down there.

hako · Guru

Happywanderer wrote:
I read somewhere the other night there is a ghost town near Rushworth in Victoria. Called Whroo. Will check it out next time down there.

I just GOOGLED it - there are quite a few entries on Whroo. Sounds interesting too.

VKPORTABLE · Senior Member

Hako;

Looks like we are onto something here.
I have been wading through the WIKI list - as I need somewhere to start then it can be altered from there on.

A lot of the 'Ghost-towns' listed for Victoria are not actually 'Ghost-Towns' in the true sense of the term.
Unless I am wrong I would think of a Ghost Town as "An abandoned former town, or that with few residents and no existing services that has been de-gazetted".

The WIKI list has Steiglitz just out of Geelong listed as a Ghost Town, yet the town itself is well lived in, without going out there and counting I could safely say there would be at least 30 residents in the immediate area. Although there is the old Court House (now and coffee shop type thing). Since it is a free thing and anyone can add to it there are going to be places like these on the list - yes I know I could update it, but I haven't the inclination to do so.

I was actually surprised to see Wittenoom still on Google Maps, considering it is a long de-gazetted town. Unfortunately there is not a lot of the old buildings still standing any-more there. Farina would be good to see, there is a group doing work there - I seen it on a TV show. And I would love to get to those fosil caves on the Nullaboring, although there location is a well guarded secret for obvious reasons.

Once my pain level subsides a bit I will get stuck back into making up the map. Just a bit hard to concentrate on things at the moment and with the drugs I forget what I am doing now and then - well more then I usually do blankstare

Happywanderer · The Master

Maybe Ghost Towns could be put in a subsection under Recommendations.
Would make it easier to find while traveling.

parkina · Newbie

As far as the Ghost in Rockhampton Criterion goes many years ago a mate and I whilst away on a working intinery found access via the top floor corner room to the Bell Tower. Over the top of the shower stall that was installed to provide washing facilities was a wooden staircase leading up to the top. We sat up there with bottles in hand and waited for an appearance. None came. Anyone listening that night may have heard muted conversations and loud guffaws.