100 Towns

Pyramul is in the gold mining district around Sofala and Hill End so I'm fairly sure it would be an old gold mining town.  Today there are some homes, some churches, a school and the old show grounds.

Glen Davis is a tiny settlement situated in the beautiful Capertee Valley.  It came into being when the shale oil mining and refining operations at Newnes closed down and moved to Glen Davis in 1938. But as shale oil was ultimately not viable the operation closed down in 1952 leaving the town to slowly disappear. However there are still some dwellings, a boutique hotel, a camp ground used by walkers keen to explore the nearby Wollemi National Park, the ruins of the old shale oil works (on private land) and a  beautiful backdrop of cliffs. This a great spot to take a day drive or a weekend stay.

The town of Newnes sprung into being with a shale oil mine and refinery which operated from 1906 to 1932. It quickly disappeared when the operation was shut down with just the pub and ruins of the old works remaining. The pub was moved to its current position in the 1980s because it was too close to the river and subject to flooding. It also sold its last beer in the 1980s. It now operates as a facility for tourist. The scenery around here is magnificent and for those who love camping there is a great camp ground near old hotel and shale oil ruins. For those who like luxury and have deep pockets there is the six star Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa a kilometre or two back along the track. For 4WD enthusiasts there is plenty of good driving in the nearby Newnes State Forest.

Mount David is a small town in the Oberon district.  In the early 1900s it was the location of a major copper mine.  In the 1920s the ore body run out and the mine closed and the town dwindled into the tiny town it is today. There is evidence of some new homes being built and the old church is a residence.  The extensions to it were in progress when we visited this town years ago and seemed to have totally stalled.  It's now up for sale.

Bylong is a small town at the end of a beautiful valley of lush farmland watered by a nice river.  The Bylong Valley Way is a truly lovely drive.  Don't miss it.

When I was researching to find out more about this town which I photographed some years ago I found a newspaper article of September 2011 declaring a wake for the town which was being bought up by a mining company with just a few people left to go. So I wonder if it's there any more.  It wasn't totally tiny or dead, just decaying.

Five years ago 1. Old general store 2. Church 3. Worker's cottage Today 4. Former general store 5. Where once there was a church and cottage 6. Current day worker's accomodation Ulan is one town that doesn't appear to have benefited from the mining boom.  It is over the road from a big coal mine.  When we visited some years ago it was small and down at heel.  Just like so many of the towns in this region the old general store looked like it has long closed.  Over the road there was a neat little church and the aging but attractive workers cottage.  A school, hotel and small cluster of houses completed the scene. Today the general store is smart and repurposed.  But over the road the land is bare! The school and hotel are still operating.

1. Town clock, Kandos 2. Ropeway from quarry to cement works 3. Shopping centre 4. Railway hotel 5. Rotunda Kandos was a town build on cement but sadly the cement works closed last year and the ropeway buckets that carried limestone from the quarry to the factory are now still. Back in 1915 Kandos started as a private town when some entrepreneurial men saw the benefit of limestone, coal and the new railway line as an opportunity to get a cement industry going.  The town's name was created using the initials of these men. It is an eclectic and interesting town with a population of around 1300 people, well worth dropping by when you are travelling this way. It's also a great area to spend a weekend.

1. Home with mountains behind, Charbon 2. Town park 3. Street view Charbon (home to about 150 people) is a mining settlement started in the 1920s.  The neat grid of streets has tidy fibro workers cottages nestled by a backdrop of mountains.  The nearby Charbon colliery operates both underground and open cut mines digging coal mostly for export.  A coal train departs each day destined for Port Kembla. The town has a park but no shops and other facilities because it is just a couple of kilometres from the bigger centre of Kandos.

1. Closed Railway station, Clandulla 2. Closed general store 3. Closed school 4. One of the local houses 5. The rural setting Clandulla is a railway town.  It sprung into being with the arrival of the railway which facilitated the opening of a coal mine nearby.  With 30 or 40 houses in the vicinity of the railway station it's alive but seems to never have been much of a town in the typical sense -- it doesn't seem to have had churches or a hotel.  There is a general store now very closed like the railway station. Many of the houses are rudimentary and most are set well apart from each other. But it's close to bigger centres and is in a peaceful scenic setting, enough to attract city folk like us to buy into its rural tranquility.

1. Cullen Bullen welcome sign 2. General store 3. House on the outskirts of town 4. Royal Hotel 5. Opposition to mining While Cullen Bullen was originally a wayside point on the road to Mudgee and blossomed further when gold was discovered further up the road it really came into it's own with the arrival of the railway which made coal mining in the region viable.  Ever since it has been sustained by mining with varying degrees of success. Today there is a move to expand the open cut mine in the region but there is opposition to this, a least by some of the locals. The townsfolk may prize their lifestyle but for the visitor there doesn't appear to be an awful lot to see and do in Cullen Bullen.

1. Portland Cement works 2. Heritage industrial building  3. Heritage industrial building 4. Worker's cottage 5. Main street There is a sadness at Portland.  All down one side of the long main street is closed off - industrial buildings, workers cottages, parklands.  The closed off area is the site of the Portland Cement Works which sustained the town for 100 years and shut down in the 1990s.  Portland was a company town. It is hard to imagine the impact of that closure. Today Portland (population 2000) is a bit of a struggle town but kept ticking by the nearby Mount Piper Power Station (which opened about the time the cement works closed), mining and rural activities. I think it is a rather nice town with a pleasant historic feel to it.  I do hope that one day the heritage industrial buildings are put to good use. There are 'signs of yesteryear' murals on many of the shops.  I am annoyed at not having taken a photograph but I think I realised t...

1. Wallerawang Power Station 2. Wallerawang Royal Hotel 3. Old railway station 4. Storage sheds by the railway line 5. Lake Wallace Wallerawang began as a staging point on the road to the west. The railway which reached Lithgow in the 1869 and Wallerawang in 1870 helped develop the town.  Until the line extended to Bathurst, some six years later, passengers alighted at Wallerawang to join Cobb & Co coaches for their onward journey. Oil shale, coal mining and power generation have sustained the town since then.  The power station which began operation in 1957 has been instrumental in developing the western coal fields. A little further up the road is the newer Mount Piper Power Station, built in 1990. Power generation requires water and Lake Wallace provides this, as well as being a lovely local amenity.

1. Lithgow City Welcome Sign 2. Blast Furnace Park 3. Workers cottages 4. Hassans Walls lookout 4. State Mine Heritage Park 5. The big miners lamp Lithgow is a small city (population 21,000) built on an industrial  base.  The city of proud of its tradition which is brought to life at Blast Furnace Park (site if an old steel mill), the State Mine Heritage Park (old coal mine) and the Small Arms Museum.  Today, there is still plenty of industry with coal mines and large power stations in the area. Located in a very scenic location at the edge of the Blue Mountains, Lithgow is a modern and house proud city -- Australia's Tidiest Town in 2011. Lithgow is fascinating and attractive place to visit which may surprise, given its industrial backdrop. The intercity trains visit many times each day so give yourself a treat and come out for the ride.

1. Burraga general store and petrol station 2. Copper smelting relics 3. Old truck in back yard 4. War Memorial Burraga had one of the oldest copper mines in the state, the relics of which can be seen outside the town.  As recently as the 1990s there was gold mining in the region and at the end of the operations the pit from the mine was flooded to form Burraga Dam which is now picnic, camping and fishing spot.  Forestry and farming are the main activities today though I notice that copper and gold mining is being explored again. The town is small with a population of around 100 people.

1. Blayney environs 2. Fly-in-fly-out miners 3. Busy main street, even though it's Sunday 4. Royal Hotel 5. Railway container terminal Blayney is a prosperous town with a population of around 3000 people. In 1837 the area where the town came to be had a mill, an inn and several houses. It got a nudge along when gold was found in the region, resulting in the many history villages found in the area today. With the arrival of the railway in the 1870s the town flourished further. The railway is now the location for a container terminal and is also visited daily by the Sydney to Dubbo XPT passenger service. Today the town benefits from nearby gold mining operations and other industries which have been attracted to establish in the area as well as from the rural economy.  There is also a wind farm outside the town. See the location of Blayney on the map.

1. Sunny Corner environs 2. Dance hall 3. Houses 4. Cemetery 5. Nearby mining ruins In the 1860s Sunny Corner was a gold mining town with about 15 crushing machines at the peak of the rush.  In the 1880s discovery of a silver reef led to the establishment of the first silver-smelting plant in NSW and the town grew dramatically with shops and hotels. Today it is a small but not particularly pretty town nestled among pine plantations. It's history lies strewn in the surrounding hills. The population of around 170 people includes timber workers, artists and people who commute to the nearby cities. It's a place where you can find history, rural tranquility and isolation in lovely surroundings without inconvenience. See the location of Sunny Corner on the map.

1. Map of Obley as it was 2. Old building still standing  3. Newer building 4. War Memorial Obley is what I call a "relic town". It had all the town things - a school, churches, butchers, bakers, general store, post office, police station, community hall, two hotels (including a Royal Hotel) and like all towns sent their young men to war. 13 went and 5 didn't come home. They say the police station and community hall remain as private residences but all the rest of the buildings are gone. It was a camping ground for teamsters and there was a nearby gold and copper mine. The railway passed Obley by, going instead through Yeoval where the gradients were not as steep. So the town dwindled to nothing but its young men are remembered. See Obley's location on the map.