Walhalla an Australian Ghost town

Hello All

Here is an Aussie ghost town that has some thing of a revival.

Walhalla is a small town in Victoria, Australia, founded as a gold-mining community in early 1863 and at its peak home to around 2,500 residents. Today, the town has a population of less than 20 permanent residents

Today the ghost town attracts large numbers of tourists and is a major focus of the regional tourism industry. The town's name is taken from an early gold mine in the area,called the Valhalla Goldmine.

As with all mining communities when the gold ran out the miners ran out. The vast majority of gold extraction from Walhalla centred around Cohen's mine, the largest single mine in Victoria. By 1900 the mine had already produced around 55 tonnes of gold (approximately 1.8 million troy ounces, worth around US$790 million in 2005).

Due to the enormous expenses of underground gold mining, small claims operated by individuals or small groups soon folded, being replaced by large companies such as the Long Tunnel Mining Company. This company owned the richest mine working the reef, the Long Tunnel, which produced around 13.7 tonnes of gold alone over its operation between the years 1865-1914.

The crushing machinery used to extract the gold from the quartz-based ore required large amounts of energy, supplied largely by wood-burning steam engines. The need for fuel wood led to the hills being denuded for some considerable distance around town, timber tramways bringing freshly-cut timber for the boilers.

The associated costs of bringing wood from further and further away were a key factor in the economic problems which eventually ended mining in Walhalla.

Hardluck 

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,11580.msg74531.html#msg74531

Hello all

Unfortunately reef mining there is a thing of past as of most of Australia. Most gold mining is done in Australia today by better extraction methods from other base metals consisting of many mineral such as copper silver lead etc...

Walhalla future has become a tourist ghost town for the day tripping cafe set from Melbourne.

hardluck 

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Great stuff Hardluck! Old gold towns have a special place in my heart as my family has history in one here in Idaho called Warren. It was one of the richest in Idaho in the day and almost died out, but now a few vacationers have bought the old cabins there. Last I heard it was around 100 people and 6 full year round . The old towns have a fascinating cast of characters and storys you just can't find outside the old mining towns.

I was thumbing through some old photos from the 20s and 30s just the other day and decided to scan them in. I'll post some as well once I get em sorted.

 

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Hello All

Buger it is amazing what you can find in old farming fields. traces of long gone farms, towns machinery etc...

Idaho Jones and BA any old photographs interest me as they are like a time machine looking back into the past.

I await your scans with interest.

Hardluck 

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