Gwalia Ghost Town is located south of Leonora, right beside the Gwalia Gold Mine which is the deepest gold mine in Australia. We spent a few days in the area looking around and it was well worth the visit.
Once we left the Central Road we headed through Laverton then Leonora. There was a Geocache on a bit of a lookout just before Laverton so of course a stop there happened, and another one at what the locals had turned into a bit of a gathering/BBQ area which was cool.
The water fill station was located just at the southern end of Leonora which had some interesting history about mining in the area to look at while waiting for the tanks to fill.
Both towns have IGAs for shopping if you don't mind the prices but we were pretty much all set up and we DID mind the prices lol
The 72hr free campsite is at the museum overlooking the enormous pit of the gold mine on one side and down the hill to Gwalia town on the other. The museum is well set up with very friendly staff and of course a donation box in the shop, which we added to, only seemed fair since they weren't charging for entry or camping.
Our first full day we headed down the hill to check out Gwalia town. The conservation team have set up the houses as if the people just walked away and left everything. Beds in bedrooms and kitchens with crockery and cookware. Each house has a plaque outlining who lived there when the mine closed down, even the sly grog shop was in place! We couldn't go into the hotel but the building is still in good condition given it's been left and it looks like work is being done to retain it.
Day two started out with a trip to really look about the museum. There was a lot of history from the old Sons of Gwalia mine from when it opened in the late 1890's until it closed in 1963 and stories from people who lived there until it closed. Out the back is an impressive display of mining history and machinery that we spent a lot of time wandering about and a short video about the current mine. The original mine managers house has been turned into a Cafe and B&B in the original style so of course after our exhausting morning wandering about and taking pictures we sat down on the verandah for Scones, Jam and Cream.
The Gold mine gets an honorable mention, it was massive and right by and likely under the campsite. The enormous trucks looked like toys from up above making their 11.5km trek to the surface at only 10kms per hour. I know you can all read the plaque above same as I can but did you spot that Gwalia mine is the deepest trucking mine in the world? It was a fascinating experience staying here, would definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area. Oh and I added a picture of the goats who were roaming about the top of the mine area, just because well they were cute.
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