Sheba wrote:

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Why not just Google them ?

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Probably because its a reasonable topic for discussion and this is a discussion forum I spose .

Helen, Terowie, near Peterborough SA is one of the more intact ones.

Cheers, John.

Wyndham in WA has a couple of Cemeteries with a lot of history. As has Broome WA there are reminders of how brutal the pearl shell industry was. The problem we had in finding exactly where certain members of my family were interred has been made more difficult owing to the destruction of a lot of Church records (fires). There were some records actually posted on a board at the "Old Cemetery" at Wyndham which helped us locate Great Grandparents final rest. www.australiancemeteries.com.au/wa/wyndham_eastkimberley/wyndhampioneer.htm

Mike Harding wrote:

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The most poignant cemetery of which I'm aware, in Australia, is a little north of Amphitheatre in central Victoria:

Pioneer Cemetery
My books tell me the Amphitheatre - Mountain Hut area of Victoria was first prospected in 1853 so this cemetery, presumably, is subsequent to then. Each time I camp in these forests and visit this cemetery I am confronted by the harshness of daily life people endured compared with the softness and comfort we take for granted, indeed demand, today. These were determined and tough people and they opened up and developed the Australia we now enjoy. I look at the graves of the children, the twins and their mother, the men who dug mine shafts in rock hard ground in 40C and sometimes I shed a tear for them.

 

Two lone graves:

Lake Hindmarsh - north west Victoria: Pioneers Grave

No point in me rabbiting here as this blog provides an excellent explanation:

http://molesworth.id.au/?page_id=123

 

And a lady I have much regard for: Kitty Kane

As above

http://chillifrog.tumblr.com/post/20568830/the-grave-of-kitty-kane

 

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 Mike, how far away from the lakes edge is Jardines grave, do you know?

Cheers, John.

There is a little known graveyard now mostly overgrown by bush at a place called Pulpit Hill on the Great Western Hwy just west of Katoomba. Historians have been unable to verify who is buried there but there is a long held belief that it contains the graves of the convicts who died during the building of Cox's road in 1814/15 as well as some of the early free settlers from the 1820s. If you park your car on the dirt road near the explorers tree and take the bush track for about 50metres up the hill behind it you will come across the remains of the old dry stone perimeter wall and a number of rock covered graves scattered through the bush. It has always amazed me that more people don't know about this place considering it's history and the fact that it has existed even before most of our capital cities. If your interested in our early history it's definitely worth the 10 minute walk.

Mary Kathleen

-- Edited by msg on Thursday 2nd of March 2017 11:01:43 AM

Along the Oodnadatta Track are the ruins of many old fettlers quarters some have huge water purifiers used for the water in the steam engines, the siding of Coward Springs still has the Stationmaster's House, there's a good camp ground and even has a spar made of railway slippers around the old bore, the ruins of the town of Farina has many stone buildings some are being stabilized you a volunteer group a great place to wander around for hours the cemetery is a few km out in the middle of a large flat gravel plain its well kept but a very lonely place in the middle of nowhere.
There is camping there in the gully with grass and flush toilets.
Dennis L

Nelly wrote:

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Hello adreamer - I like ghost towns, cemeteries and also going on ghost tours - thank you for the post. That is very interesting Belmont Bear about the little cemetery near Katoomba - you would think some historical association would take some interest in it after all it is our heritage.     

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 Hi Nelly, my daughter said 'she was the only kid in school' who spent her Sunday's at cemeteries playing on old graves.

Helen

There is a list of Australian ghost towns here. Nearly all have links to articles on them.

Maralinga, just don't touch anything, you may glow in the dark afterwards!

A little bit of comic relief or an attempt at it, whether it be tasteful or not is a different matter!

Trying logging on to TROVE, the national archive site. It has all sorts of great stuff and I am sure you could do a search for towns that once were. It is also a great place to find hatch, match and dispatches for your family tree stuff from newspapers around Australia.

Lancelot Link wrote:

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Maralinga, just don't touch anything, you may glow in the dark afterwards!

A little bit of comic relief or an attempt at it, whether it be tasteful or not is a different matter!

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 Not one of your better attempts, see -  About the Maralinga Tour

Emu has been cleaned up as well. You can do your own trip to there.

Adreamer Hi, I to share a great interest in history, in west Australia there is a Pioneer cemetery in Kenwick, on the right hand side of Albany Highway going towards Perth, between Austin Ave and Royal street. Its very interesting. Also the graves of John Okey Davis and his wife Frances who arrived in the colony in October 1829 aboard the ship `Lotus` and became among the first European settlers in Gosnells. The grave is on Homestead Road in gosnells, you have the convenience of parking your vehicle right beside the grave, its lovely with an old wrought iron surround. At times over the years I have placed wild flowers beside John and Frances. Gingin is also another place that has a great pioneer cemetery, and if your into astronomy as I am there is the southern Cross Observatory in gingin ....regards Kisha.

meetoo wrote:

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Mike Harding wrote:

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The most poignant cemetery of which I'm aware, in Australia, is a little north of Amphitheatre in central Victoria:

Pioneer Cemetery
My books tell me the Amphitheatre - Mountain Hut area of Victoria was first prospected in 1853 so this cemetery, presumably, is subsequent to then. Each time I camp in these forests and visit this cemetery I am confronted by the harshness of daily life people endured compared with the softness and comfort we take for granted, indeed demand, today. These were determined and tough people and they opened up and developed the Australia we now enjoy. I look at the graves of the children, the twins and their mother, the men who dug mine shafts in rock hard ground in 40C and sometimes I shed a tear for them.

 

Two lone graves:

Lake Hindmarsh - north west Victoria: Pioneers Grave

No point in me rabbiting here as this blog provides an excellent explanation:

http://molesworth.id.au/?page_id=123

 

And a lady I have much regard for: Kitty Kane

As above

http://chillifrog.tumblr.com/post/20568830/the-grave-of-kitty-kane

 

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 Mike, how far away from the lakes edge is Jardines grave, do you know?

Cheers, John.

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I recently visited the pioneer grave of Margaret Jardine near Lake Hindmarsh. It certainly is in an out of the way place.

Cheers, John.

-- Edited by meetoo on Thursday 20th of April 2017 12:46:29 AM

-- Edited by meetoo on Thursday 20th of April 2017 12:47:26 AM

I know of a few:

Francis Creek East of Pine Creek in the NT. Francis Creek was a mining town deserted after cyclone Tracy. Not much left when I was there, the town swimming pool and remains of the change sheds. Curiously on top of the hill behind the town is a church, largely intact including ceiling fans and glass louvres. Probably still intact because it can't be seen from the towns only remaining structure - the swimming pool.

Mt Wells battery in the NT. Also abandoned after cyclone Tracy. A lot left here: three intact houses that were used by the mine's managers and higher echelons, the single miners quarters, central mess, a couple of workshops, the battery itself powered by a WW2 sub engine, the dam which supplied water and the mines themselves. When I was there there was a chap living in a caravan, said he was the caretaker! Bombed out of his brain.

There were hundreds and hundreds of abandoned humpies and mines on the tracks between Mt Wells and Francis Creek.   A very interesting drive through that area.   Most were abandoned around the time of Cyclone Tracy as there was no way of getting their produce out of there for a good many years after Tracy.   All the old machinery is still evident, all home made stuff of course.   I even came across a couple of abandoned XA Falcon panel vans.   I wouldn't rush to have a look though.   It's a few years since I went through there and I believe the big mining companies have gone through the area tearing the place apart with their open cuts, similar to what happened in Coolgardie!

Snake creek just North of Adelaide River is an interesting place also. Not a town but an ammunition depot used during the second WW. A few buildings are left, along with parts of the railroad and plenty of artifacts lying around. The Navy supposedly had a presence there as late as the early 70s???

Gwalia, a couple of hundred kilometers North of Kalgoorlie is not just still standing, it has been repaired and rebuilt as a museum. Numerous old houses, pubs and even a brothel stand, their interiors furnished by furniture and bric a brac from the period. Herbert Hoover was the mine manager at one stage, he later became the president of the US. The residents of the nearby town got together to restore the old town and what a job they did.

Old Halls creek, not much left just some crumbling ruins. There is an old house further along the track/road which was largely still standing. Some old fella built the place and supplied the locals with fruit and veges until he died. His Gin and her relatives took over the property on his demise and the property soon fell apart. The house still stands, minus doors and windows along with the water tanks outside and you can still see where he used to farm. In the front yard is an old truck, a Bedford I believe.

I did visit a place in WA, the old two story hotel was still standing along with the ruins of some old houses. Can't quit remember where, but I think it was around the Meekathara/Cue area.

Another place I remember well is an old mine on the highway just before the turnoff to Kalbarri,   Recently abandoned I think because a couple of the old offices and huts were still standing.   The mine was just an enormous hole in the ground which was filled with old cars and machinery so not much could be seen.

I do remember driving along a track somewhere in WA and came across a group of very small, one room, stone humpies, some not even tall enough to stand in.   They all had fireplaces and some roofs were still intact.   Don't know the story behind this place but there were some other ruins of normal sized buildings across the other side of the river, we couldn't get to them though as the river was in flood.   This was somewhere up around Kalbarri from memory.

There was an old humpy we stopped at just south of Meekathara from memory. A lady built it from rubbish she collected in the area. She survived by collecting bottles and cans and other stuff and selling them to scrap yards. The house was remarkably intact right down to lounge chairs, tables and clothing. We were interrupted by a local who kept a close eye on us and told us her story, he seemed as though he new her well and wanted to preserve the place. There were a few deserted houses in town as well which we went through. The town looked like it was slowly dying, probably due to fly in fly out miners who never went in to town.

Typically, in Australia, most Ghost towns consist of maybe some foundations and not much more. As the towns were abandoned people took most everything with them to rebuild elsewhere.

But cemeteries and isolated graves abound, particularly around old abandoned mining towns. Reading the gravestones, one can piece together the hardships people endured.

There are literally hundred of old mines North of Kal, just holes in the ground really with a few boards to stave off cave ins.   If you're reasonably fit and interested (and brave enough) you could climb or lower yourself down a few for a look.   I used to climb and lower myself down sinkholes back in the day, everyone said I was crazy.   Crazy or not I wouldn't venture down any of these old mines, safety wasn't at the top of the old timer's interests back then.

Ghost Towns have always fascinated me, so whenever I get a chance I make a detour, sadly most are nothing but rubble, or placards, stating a town or residence once stood there.   I've visited a few in QLD and SA as well, but nothing to speak of really.   The ones I mentioned are the ones that stick in my memory.

-- Edited by toglhot on Friday 12th of May 2017 04:51:39 PM

-- Edited by toglhot on Friday 12th of May 2017 04:53:40 PM