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| Old Farina |
I probably should say "When are we going?"
We are not going anytime soon, but we have been to Farina a few times and I will show some of my photos from the ghost town of Farina in South Australia. As you have probably noticed, I love anything old, even my husband although he is not much older than me, and I'm not saying how old I am, but I think I qualify as "old" and I actually quite like being old apart from the aches and pains and a few other unmentionables 😉😂
I have previously shown photos from our trips to other States in Australia, so thought I would showcase a very interesting place in my home State. We have been here a few times and always enjoy our stay in Farina, approximately 600 km from Adelaide. It was an old railway town and was settled in 1878, In the 1880's it was felt that it would be a good area for growing barley and wheat, but it was soon discovered that the rainfall was not sufficient to grow these crops. The name Farina means flour, because this area was originally thought would be the granary of the north. The narrow gauge railway was important to Farina and was the railhead for the towns of Birdsville and Oodnadatta.
Farina is a Ghost Town but in 2008 a Restoration Group was started up and volunteers work for about 8 weeks a year restoring the site and maintaining it.
When we first visited Farina there were no facilities and we had to be self contained but over the years the Restoration Group have installed toilets and showers and now there is an Underground Bakery which operates for a few weeks every year and sells fresh baked items for the campers which is very popular. The downside for us is that it might become too popular, and for me it will lose some of the very essence of why we loved it - the remoteness, the adventure getting there and exploring the area. To keep the town from being destroyed by the elements and some tourists, it is necessary to keep improving and controlling what is left of the town and the Restoration Group have definitely made some major improvements and it is good to see the old town come to life again.
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| An old Ford Consul Mk 1 |
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| Cattle/sheep wagon |
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| Relaxing |
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| Relaxing while dinner cooks |
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| Flock of Galahs |
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A Bustard
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We originally thought this bird was an eagle but once we got closer it was a bustard. Eagles are more handsome!
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| The Marquee was for the Bakery shop and has now been replaced with a permanent building |
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| Patterson House almost completed |
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| The Marquee was set up as a temporary shop for the Bakery |
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| View of our van from the Anzac Memorial |
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| Anzac Memorial |
The War Memorial was erected in 2015 to commemorate 70 service personnel from Farina who served in World War 1 & 2.
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| The old Railway Bridge |
A ghost town in the process of restoration. Sounds fascinating!
ReplyDeleteWhat a remote and fascinating place.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Farina lost a significant proportion of its population to the wars - as so many small towns did.
Do you know what caused it to become a ghost town?
EC - yes, they lost quite a few young men in the wars. The town didn't prosper because the rainfall was not reliable for their crops and so the farms were no viable and then the railway was repositioned and bypassed Farina. There were quite a few years when the rainfall was good, but then there were many years of drought so the farms didn't survive. There were quite a few other ruins in the area, large sheep & cattle stations that didn't survive the harsh conditions.
DeleteEC - I replied yesterday but not sure why it didn't show up here, so I'll try again. IN 1882-1884 Farina was prosperous and the rainfall was good, but over the years the droughts came and the businesses and farms failed and people left the area. Also the railway line was redirected and Farina slowly died. That is a very brief summary of what happened.
DeleteWonderful to see these photos of a place we haven't been to.
ReplyDeleteIt's good volunteers are doing up the buildings and so on..
Nice post.
Margaret - The volunteers do an amazing job and they have made a lot of improvements which bring more people to the area. I think many of the buildings would have been destroyed if it wasn't for the volunteers.
ReplyDeleteI love the places you take us to in your blog. I hope someday to see them myself but in the meantime...thank you!
ReplyDeleteThese photos are so lovely but we do like in a wonderful, anazing country
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting place to explore. If I ever get to come to Australia I would like to travel by RV. We rented a 24' motorhome last year, loved it so much we bought a 25' one of our own. We started on a Snowbird RV Adventure in November and over six weeks went from Washington State to Los Angeles, California. We left it in storage and returned in February to explore Arizona. We left it in Tucson in late February in storage once more planning to return at the end of March. Well, you know how well that plan turned out. We don't know what the future will bring but it is in a good spot with power to keep the batteries charged. My only fear is the heat, we didn't leave anything open to allow the hot air to escape. - Margy
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