While we were at Onslow we went to visit "old" Onslow. The original townsite was pretty much destroyed by a cyclone in about 1918 (not too sure on the date as I can't remember and can't find the tourist info sheet) and the whole town was moved to where it is now, right on the coast. The old townsite was quite a way from the new site and was about 4 miles away from the river. It is kind of eerie out there now - there are only a couple of buildings left standing and although there has been some work done signposting points of interest the whole place is just bits of left over stuff in the middle of the scrub. I was really interested to learn that the town was much older than I had thought - most of the north-west towns are quite young because they sprang up around mineral deposit discoveries in the the sixties and seventies. Onslow as a town started in about the 1880's.
These are the building that are left - the police station/court house/accomodation for the police, magistrate (who was also the town's doctor) and their families.
And the old gaol, complete with broken glass embedded into the cement on the roof to stop those inside from getting out. Crude but effective! You can just see it on the closest wall.
This is all that remains of the telegraph station.
And the blacksmith shop...
The cemetery was really sad. There are about 10 or so gravestones that can be easily seen and they are inside an old wire fence in the middle of absolutely nothing. When we were at the cemetery the wind dropped and it was just stinkingly hot and still - really quite spooky.
1 comments:
Interesting photos! This would be a cool place to visit.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment on my column at 5 Minutes for Mom. Excellent addition to the conversation.
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