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Ghost Towns of Queensland and Northern Territory




The ghost towns detailed here are significant examples but not all the examples of the ghost towns in Australia. They have been included either for their historic significance, or because they have other significance which is detailed in the text.



Mary Kathleen (Qld)
Pastoralists had settled in the area in the 1860s, but it was not until 1954 that uranium was discovered by a uranium prospecting syndicate led by Norman McConachy and Clem Walton. Within four years a model town and a mine were built to service a contract with the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The town was late named after the wife of Walton, Mary Kathleen Walton, who had died a couple of weeks prior to the discovery. The town named by the Surveyor-General in May 1956.

Between 1958 and 1963 a total of 4,500 tonnes of uranium were produced. A world oversupply of uranium led to the mine lying idle until 1974, but closed again in 1976. In 1983 everything in the town from the houses to the public buildings and the equipment was put up for auction. There is nothing left of the town today but for a series of streets with no buildings left. A few remnants were rescued and are on display at the Memorial Park and Museum in McIlwraith St, Cloncurry.
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  • Betoota (Qld)
    Known locally as the “gateway from the east”, being just over 700km from Charleville and approximately 177 Km from Birdsville, Betoota is one of the most isolated places in south western Queensland. It’s also one of the quietest – for 47 years it had a population of one, but in 1997 when its sole resident, who ran the Betoota pub, called it a day and retired, age 32, its population fell to zero and has never recovered.
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    • Rum Jungle (NT)
      Rum Jungle came into existence in 1872 when the Overland Telegraph Line construction party found gold at Yam Creek. It subsequently became a popular resting place, first for the miners, then for teamsters because the area offered good food and water (a Mr Lithgow built The Rum Jungle Hotel out of rough timber and sheets of stringy bark in 1874). The completion of the railway from Darwin to Pine Creek led to the demise of the hotel which was closed down in 1889. Rum Jungle came to life again in the 1950s when it was the site of a busy uranium mine.
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      • Moline and Rockhole (South Alligator, NT)
        The tale of the South Alligator uranium mining frenzy in the 1950s is remarkable. Prospectors, share market speculators and companies wildly explored the region as fast as they could, making numerous discoveries of uranium ores at the surface. There was little regard for the traditional owners of the region, and any environmental concern was completely lacking. Two companies, United Uranium NL (UUNL) and South Alligator Uranium NL (SAUNL), were principally involved in the uranium mines in the area, each with its own treatment plant drawing upon ore from a total of 13 separate mines, of which 7 were open cut and 5 were underground mines.

        A total of over fifteen prospects were also worked in a north-west trending belt 24 km long and 3 km wide. The Moline uranium plant closed in August 1964, having completed its A $10 million contract with the UKAEA involving the supply of 520 tonnes of uranium oxide. The mining companies simply walked away and abandoned the different sites, which included open cut and underground uranium mines, a battery and gravity separation plant, gold separation and a small mill and solvent extraction plant.

UGG STOP Australia



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