Waggin' Trail: A Ghost Town

Peak Hill was a town with 900 people during a mad gold rush back in the 1800's. Gary's boss, Tony Burrows, now owns it; it's been in their family since 1899. It's an astonishing, fascinating place; I'll write more about it when we go up to work. The main house was the old post office; inside, it's a time capsule of the family's past, with ancient magazines & toys on the shelves. On the outside window sills are collections of old bottles, tins and bits & pieces that Gary has found over the years.

Its more recent past is as a private mine site for Tony (gold of course), and now Alchemy are drilling and exploring there. Tony's company supplies heavy trucks & graders, so Gary is often up there rebuilding the tracks, moving dongers and tanks and so on. Just down the track from the main house is the miner's camp, where they set up their satellite dish, field tents and accommodation. They have an old water tank with the top cut off as a swimming pool.

Just across the track from the house are the remains of the town - there were 3 pubs, a bakery and shop, as well as various houses and outbuildings, all made of stone. Further down, across the creek, is the town's cemetery. One of our jobs when we go up will be to chainsaw the encroaching bush and do some preservation work around the site - not because someone asked us to, but because Gary just thinks it's the right thing to do. It will be lost otherwise.

There's a Telstra relay tower there, an airfield (clandestine plane landings & secret package exchanges have been seen...), old mine shafts, lord knows what else. Here are a few tantalising photos; when we go up, I'll do a big photo essay.