I am constantly astonished with how many ruins we come across … sometimes just a chimney or a pile of stones, other times it still looks like a house, or other times entire ghost towns. It’s only been since 1788 that Europeans have been building in Australia, and many of these places remained undiscovered by Europeans until the mid-1800s.
I just find it amazing that our ruins are no more than 200 years old … when overseas buildings may be standing for 1000 years, or a ruins might be a couple of thousand years old. Still, a ruins is still an interesting place to explore, and we often stop for a better look.
Kanyaka Homestead in the Flinders Ranges really impressed us. As we went over the hill, this magnificent ruined homestead was standing there. At it’s height, it was home to 70 men and their families. However, it only operated as a sheep station for less than forty years before the ongoing drought caused them to walk away.
These are the shearing sheds at the Kanyaka Homestead:
These ones are from Farina, a ghost town at the northern end of the Flinders Ranges in South Australia. The town was originally established as a wheat growing area (hence the name, which apparently means wheat in Latin). However, it continued to exist, in slow decline, as a town to service the Old Ghan Railway. After the Old Ghan stopped running in the 1980s, the town fell into ruins. Today, it’s only a ghost town.
These ruins are from a sidings for the Old Ghan on the Oodnadatta Track in far north South Australia. The water tower was there for the old train, but even though it’s worth a bit in scrap metal, it isn’t worth enough to make it worth anyone’s while to go and bring it to a town to scrap.
Back in the Flinders Ranges again, this one we could see in the distance when we climbed up a hill to have a look at some caves. The closest town would have been Parachilna, but it is actually quite close to where the movie Wolf Creek was filmed.
This is all that was left of a 1800s Aboriginal mission off the Oodnadatta Track, not far from Marree in northern South Australia:
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Twitter: vangrizz
says:
Interesting. Australia isn’t a place I would associate with ruins, but 200 years old is still getting up there. Must be fun to explore.
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
A lot of it was because people would try an area for farming, and then realize that it just wasn’t suitable and abandon them.
Twitter: toeuropewithkid
says:
Those photos do seem kind of unlikely for Australia. Of course, here in the U.S. our ruins aren’t much older either.
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
No, USA hasn’t had buildings for much longer, I guess. Still, you’ve got a few hundred years of European history
Hey Guys, Is there a reason why you don’t tell us where the ruins are!
When we went to the UK in 2005 and we found a ruined castle in wales, that had been “a ruin” for nearly 1200 years and it was only “in use” for about 80 of those. Nice pics though Jarrad.
Happy Wandering,
Mick
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
Oops, editted it to add in where they are all are now!
That’s like the town in France where I stayed. The local church was 1000 years old, and the chateau was old too, but I can’t remember how old. It was ruined in an air raid, though, during World War II. Such a shame.
Thanks Mick
Twitter: GoneWithFamily
says:
Ruins are so much fun to explore and imagine what they used to be.
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
I agree! I love just walking around, trying to imagine what life would have been like.
Twitter: newlifeonroad
says:
Gorgeous photos – and such amazing buildings. Amazing to see the structure is still there…even its almost in ruins!
Cheers
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
There are lots in that region. Apparently when Matthew Flinders first found the area in the 1840s it was uncharacteristically wet, and remained so for about a decade. In fact, the Third Son of Earl someone or other settled Kanyaka Homestead in the very early 1840s. He was washed away in the flood waters of the river there a year later. However, within the decade it had returned to its usual dry state. The river today is another one of those amazing dry river beds with magnificent gum trees growing in it.
So cool! I love visiting ruins and imagining everything that happened there. – V
Twitter: livinontheroad
says:
They are so interesting. So much history in those places, and it’s fantastic what the kids imagine when we visit ruins, and the discussions that they bring up.