Ghost Towns

In case you hadn't noticed, I am fascinated by towns that are no longer. Those places that were homes to hundreds of people who lived and worked, and sent their kids to school, and went to dances, and argued with their neighbours, and drank at the pub, and shopped in the streets, and were died and buried there. But are now home to maybe a handful of people, or just ruins, or wiped off the map completely. The rise and fall of mining booms obviously causes a lot, so there are many down the West Coast, possible more than living towns. Some, like Linda and Gormanston, are still on the map, but it's a bit harder to find Crotty, Pillinger (East or West) or Penghana. Of course there are others in different parts of the island, like the former port of Boobyalla (which is marked in my road atlas!), Cullenswood or Alveston, which I had never even heard of until recently, despite having through it many, many times.

Many years ago, when I was not much older than a teenager, I was looking through an art exhibition at the museum and in one cabinet was a miniature painting of Port Arthur, which is, of course, one of the dullest locations in the whole state, but this showed a street, with house-like buildings on either side. Street. Town. A real town, where people lived and worked, and... Ok it became quite a bit more interesting to me then. Although there probably wasn't much drinking at pubs going on, there not being one until after it closed down. But that's for another day. Maybe.

A different town today, and this one did have a hotel although I missed getting photos of what is left of it.

Definitely a town at this point, with places to live and work, and cleared land and gardens.

And if you follow the link, you'll know where it is :)

( More links )

User icon is Brisbane Hotel, which is there but not there. A ghost building.