Australia's Abandoned Ghost Town 

This is where my friend was born and grew up....95 years ago. She is still alive and one of the houses you show, was her families! Lovely to be able to show her - sad though how it is now derelict :(

Stopped at Olary on our way from Broken Hill to Adelaide in 1985, I believe the population was 9 at the time. Stopped at the pub, picked up a six pack and continued on our way. Sad to see it this way.

What stories are behind this place. We left our farm in East Africa just closed the door a went to find a new and safe life. My sisters returned years later and it made them sad. The beautiful gardens long gone together with doors and window frames. Such memories. For me these homes evoke the same feelings as divers swimming round an under water wreck. Everything retains vibrations of its existance if we just stand, feel and listen. It is interesting seeing living history. Have mixed feelings and hope the Owners found what they were hoping for.

My family went from the hustle and bustle of London direct to olary in the 50s. In a house like the second one you showed. Five kids in tow, flys, scorching hot, no electricity and a old kero fridge. Mum made it work while dad worked away on the railway. My older brothers and sisters had there first beer at the olary pub. They have plenty of storys to tell

Thank you Werner for this I lived in a few old railway towns as a young kid and spent a lot of time outside within a 20km radius lol searching for old bottles and coins etc without a metal detector in South Australia. This place is a museum and should be restored to such. History suspended in time thank you so much for showing us this.

"Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints..." Great video - I've driven past the old town several times; if I go past there again, I'll stop off and see what's changed. It would be nice if you could give us the date from an old newspaper, so we can see in what era these places were abandoned.

S.A.here// I passed through Olary in the early 1970's, went to fill up with petrol, the man was so drunk (it was morning) that I had to help him get the pump nozzle into my gas tank, then I said- what is wrong with your dogs, who were ROLLING down the steps of his 'house'- he said- Oh, theyre just drunk !!...no judgement here, just a very odd memory I have of going through Olary on the day.

What I found most striking is the amount of books these people owned and subsequently left behind. I think it shows that despite how much they wanted to live and work in the middle of nowhere, they still wanted to remain as connected as they possibly could with the rest of world.

Thankyou so much for sharing this beautiful old town with us. It is so sad that it now lies in ruins when it use to be home, life and memories for the people who lived there. I was torn between sadness and awe throughout the whole video. Thankyou again for filming and sharing.

I prefer exploring videos without ambient back ground music, I like to hear the buildings moving in the wind, the birds, gives a more realistic feeling of the explore, well done for the videos thanks for the effort 👌

Great video, well made. The newspapers, cassettes and other stuff suggests people were living there up to the 1980s.

Those old Eveready batteries were the power source for the old telephone system! Our 'phone at North Springwood, NSW had two in a bank, under the house. Whereas 'phone numbers now are eleven digits, including the 02; our number in 1963 at Springwood was "North Springwood, 113!!"

That paperback Seeds of Yesterday by Virginia Andrews was published in 1984 - so there is a bit of a hint. And Ease laundry detergent was also an 80's product

I drove the Barrier Hwy just before Xmas 2022. It was 38C in Broken Hill & Silverton with a dust storm. I spent the night at the Cockburn Hotel on the NSW SA border. I had to pull over the wind and dust was soooo bad. Amazing history and difficult living in these old towns.

It's funny how Werner describes things from the 70's and 80's as old fashioned.

beautiful, but so sad. Thank you for sharing and treating every thing with so much respect. Lets hope the next explorer is as respectful as you were...

Man when there was no phones all the kids back in the 90s were playing outside doing activities or reading books haha those were the days man🫶🏽 wish we could all go back⏳

Gives people an idea of how Vast Australia is!

I grew up in railway sidings in Qld 60s, 70s, and 80s and that's the same style houses I used to call home. I recognised so many things that were our basic lives then. Thanks mate for the video. Over the years Qld railway sold the houses etc and dozed the areas to remove any proof that any of us had even existed in those places.

I just drove though this town in late September 2023. It is bizarre seeing the abandoned places then the hotel that looks like it might be opened. To be honest but was eerie driving through the towns between Cockburn & Peterborough on the Barrier Hwy.

A great reminder of my own mortality. Thankyou for this strangely peaceful time capsule.

All Beautiful!!!! Thank you you should feel vey special for having the opportunity to have experienced seeing history of Australia

Some of the best footage I've seen on RU-vid, thanks for sharing. Yes to think the old houses you've explored were homes of families and they all appeared just up pack up and walk out to begin new lives elsewhere. Naturally you'd like to be a fly on the wall to get an understanding of family life in the houses your showed. As a grey nomad I enjoy exploring old towns and houses. Its all about past life, hardships and our history. Thank you for sharing and since I've subscribed I'll look forward to more interesting historic footage.

Oh. Thank you for doing this video for us. I enjoyed seeing you explore 🖖😀

I find it fascinating that people lived here once - they had friends and neighbours, they cooked and slept there, they clearly past time with a lot of reading…and then one by one they all left. I would love to go back in time to see these places at their peak, even if at their peak they still only had 10-15 families, it would have had life.

Thanx so much for showing me thru..so much fun..love going to ghost towns..I walked around the old asbestos mine of Wittnoom n its town..

I get quite melancholy when I view old disused railway stations and homes in the U.K. I am getting the same sadness looking at the abandoned homes in Olary.

Loved this video and old buildings you explored. But I have to say what wrenched at my heart (having spent my childhood holidays up in the North, Pt Augusta, Hawker, etc with my dad who was born in Hawker, is the magnificent way you managed to capture the beautiful native weeds in the yards....I just love them although I know they are a pest, out there in the amazing outback they thrive and are so evocative. Thanks for your wonderful videos.

I loved this video it was both intriguing but also so sad to see these abandoned homes. All those things left behind. Reminds me when I was a kid living in Lismore after the floods my brother and I would explore some of the abandoned homes. Thanks for sharing ❤

I just found this channel and this was a great video of yesteryear, subscribed and liked.

actually the battery was for the old wind up phones, you can still see the tech wire attached to the top. the old phones had 2 batteries attached to work

I❤it! Keep up the great work! I would only ask that you slow down though, so that I don’t have to keep pausing the playback, which breaks up the commentary….or I suppose I could watch it a couple of times!!!

Well done Werner, thanks for sharing. So much interesting stuff. That last stove would be worth restoring. Cheers.

Perhaps the books are from when they did school on the air, because there was a lot of encyclopaedias amongst them and I noticed some school readers. I didn't know there was an abandoned town in Australia, the old houses look like they had fibro on the walls which would have been made with asbestos, at least one of the homes could be rebuilt with the stuff from the other houses. I wonder if the original owners still have family who own the land the homes are on. Thanks for sharing the video. Cheers from Tasmania!

What a location, alot to explore! Nice video Werner 😍

Simply loved your video! Thank you Werner, you had me focused for the whole 34 mins. I would love to see some dates on those newspapers, and perhaps a look at the books, toys and objects in each home to get a picture of what type of family may have lived there. What was so good about Olary is its long history still shows clearly, just scattered like the old truck, batteries and engine blocks. Then it seems to stop in the late 60's early 70's, and era that many of us can still recall.

It's crazy how this was abandoned! Thank you for showing us around!

Australia is such a new country. If it's more than 100 years old it is an antique, or a heritage site. Love the music. When I see old wood, I think of the instrument makers and the cabinet makers who love such stuff.

Great video and amazing narration!

Interesting and sad to see all these homes abandoned. Your a brave man walking around with the possibility of snakes 😮😮

Abandoned houses are everywhere. I enjoy watching but is not brave enough to go in. Thank you for sharing💕👍🏾

I can understand the roof having gaps due to storms, but the destruction inside looks like, over the years, travellers have just trashed the place. How disgraceful. In other parts of the world you find deserted houses still tidy except for natural break-up of the I ternals. Travellers squat for a few days and move on leaving the houses as tidy.

Wow! That’s really well done and certainly very informative!!

Nice to see homegrown history, scenery & info 🤠 Greatly appreciated

Sad to see Olary just left like this. Used to pass through in the mid 70s to early 80s doing routine maintenance on the microwave radio system that sent ABC TV from Balaklava to Broken Hill. Had many a meal and a few beers at the Olary pub. The nearest radio site was MacDonalds Hill, right on the highway about 10 to 15 Km on the Broken Hill side. My grandfather on Dad’s side was born and raised further up the road at Cockburn in the late 1890s and 1900s. He worked in the mines at Broken Hill when he was 14 and fought the Germans in the Somme Valley in France in WW1 when he was 19/20.

All those jars in the first building you walked into are fowlers Vacola jars and are worth a fortune!!!

Asbestos hysteria is way overblown. U don’t want to be cutting it or working with it, like u don’t want to be working with many chemicals daily, but the men who got done by it were mining it with no protection.

Great video, crazy all the stuff that was just left behind. Subscribed, keep up the great work. 👍👍

Great upload. Reminded me of Bogantungun on the Capricorn Hwy here in Central Queensland.

You passed up a fortune in that old shop sign which looked to be in good order....they are worth a lot of money....Ricco.

I love the landscape, its beautiful...big skies and gorgeous red earth. Also those lil cottages are very charming even through the ravages of time we can still see lots of character. Thank you for this great vid❤❤❤

Loved the video mate , pitty you didn’t look at the newspapers and dates on some of the things there to give everyone better clues as to when the area was last occupied in those houses, did you speak to any remaining occupants that still live there ? I seen one house in the back ground that looked like someone is still there with a big truck going past near the end of this video . Sad to see it in ruins like this very sad.

Interesting video. It was great to see. 😊

These towns exist in Tasmania. They were set up in remote places high in mountainous terrain, when the Hydro power stations were being built and were maintained, then abandoned after when teams of men and their families were no longer required.

This was awesome. Merry Christmas to you Werner! ❤️🎄⛄

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing. I wasn't aware of this town at all. So many abandoned homes there.

I have passed through that place a few times! I live bout as far from there as you can get, Brunswick Heads!

Now this is my kind of exploring ....great stuff so many priceless memories on what your finding .👍

The bell thingy you found around the 29 minute mark is something to do with either a telegraph or telephone exchange. I used to work in a post office that is over 100 years old and it still has one of those bell thingies on the wall. Love the video. I've now subscribed to your channel.

Awesome reminds me of when l was a child this how we lived there was no power and all food tasted so good cooked on top of those sold stoves and out of those old ovens. And the rain water out of the old tanks.

Wow! Awesome find and video mate. I’ve traveled to broken hill a million times but never thought of stopping here! Have to next time!!

That battery you showcased were actually used by linesmen who worked for the old PMG

That was pretty amazing! Thanks for the upload, mate! I'm surprise you didn't go through those timber flooring. 😁

Lovely to hear the stoney curlew in the background

What a cool place and vid Werner & crew! 🥰👌💯

What's the bet that the old hoover vacuum still works?! That old wood fire oven brought back memories of visiting my great grandmother's old time farm in Gympie, growing up (complete with a thunderbox out the back too) 🥰 Great video, it's always fun to explore! Cheers mate 🍻

Thank you for this video. I saw lots of early Holden Grey Motor parts in those sheds.

What a load of memories. Thank you

If the Australian government give free lands if people wanted to move there, I think maybe a fair bit of people wanted to move there & start new life there.

25:35 - the old washing machine. We inherited one very similar to that, if not the same, when the immediate family moved into a house from an uncle's real estate spread, back in early 1979. Even then, it was ' shit, that's antiquated. '. But we used it for several years hence, not automatically replacing it. That top part is what you'd run the washed clothes through to wring them out. Sometimes I would circumvent that and go straight to the clothes line, and someone would say that you're supposed to use that, but I was for not messing with that.

Looks and feels incredibly eerie with them birds in the background

Cool, I just want to go through all those old books to see if I can save any 😮

WOW🙀 I’m particularly interested in seeing what the old books are. There’s sure to be treasure there.

My father visited one of his old mates there , 50yrs ago , ithink it was Frank Stanley , they wwre drinking long neck bottles of beer and playing a. Small accordian .my old dad owns a tin shack behind th manahill pub that he bought from radium hill mine in 1960.

Very interesting thanks for sharing

The music with the truck was priceless

i paused on that christmas card i wonder how old that is.Great video i love these old towns and their stories

Thank you, Werner the song was about 26 minutes, into the video. I really appreciate this. the words started "Oh the river rising by the Linden tree, it's melody is calling me." thank you once again. My wife and I really enjoy your videos and look out for the next video.... cheers

This breaks my heart. So many homeless people in Australia and yet we have so many abandoned towns and buildings. Its just such a waste.

This is a very cool spot man! Lots to see here!

Some of those tins and pots are less rusty than some of mine at home that were purchased less than 2 years ago

What an awesome old town. It would make a great museum. I would have loved to explore that house! Great video. Loved the music at the beginning 💖

Thanks for aharing. Cool place. 👍

Are there any groups of people that go around fixing up towns like this. Towns like this would love beautiful all restored

Dear Brian that was really quite exciting and we really felt like we were there. Watch out for those snakes. Would you please let me know the singers and name of that lovely old song that you played about 25 minutes into the video. Looking forward to future clips that you may put on for us to all enjoy. Thanks once again Dave.

I could live there. What an amazing place, with some cool old houses.

The amount of old iron left there is unreal. That didn't rust like the iorn they are making today.

Enjoyed the video, very creepy place! Someone has dumped books in the first house, everything was covered in red dust including the books on the shelves but the books in that pile on the floor were clean!

Cool video, very interesting. I always wonder how all the stuff inside these houses and sheds gets thrown all over the place. Btw how creeps to crow's sound in the background 😮 👍🙂

Fascinating to check it out mate

Wow amazing 👍

Great location Werner! So many old things to look at, loved that vintage eveready battery! This little town would have been a tight knit little community back in the day. Old gem homes and country living for sure! Enjoyed mate, cheers! 🙂

Do one on Fowler's Bay in South Australia, an old abandoned whaling port on the Bight. Some amazing history in that place.

wow great video mate cool ghost town

Its a Good idea to shut the doors! To preserve the relic & stop animals becoming trapped inside!

" they left some things behind amazing find like a window into the past !" ( full of surprises )

What amazing. Story of a ghost town I love look at ghost town and there storys😢

The old everready battery, i would say, looking at the thin wiring, is for an old PMG telephone.

That was awesome..thank you… I could spend hours there.. sifting and checking out everything…♥️

It’s fascinating and sad as family’s grew up here with not much luxuries or treasures as they made and repaired as much as they could with fresh food and preserving as there was a room like a pantry with glass jars. Every home had a work shop or shed to do Repairs as this reminds me of how my Uncle was living up to 2013 who never threw anything away because one day you might need that. Especially hardwood Timber. All the fibro is asbestos thanks to the manufacturers James Hardie proudly producing this Fibro at their factory in Parramatta next to the River. You could imagine how much Asbestos Dust sits on the bottom of the Parramatta River. If only the Ghosts of this town knew how we live in the 21st Century so close to each other and high rise units with the cost of living and expenses I think they would stay and enjoy a country life style of hassle free as they could by now order Uber for anything. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺