Farina: Ruined Ghost Town - Oodnadatta Track, South Australia
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28 km north of Lyndhurst is the ghost town of Farina, now nothing more than a fascinating collection of ruins with the surrounding countryside littered with old drays, wheels and rusting pieces of equipment.
It is strange, while wandering around the ruins, to think that people once made their homes here and hoped to grow wheat in the parched surrounding landscape.
The area was originally proclaimed a town on 21/03/1878 and called “Government Gums” because of the mature River Red Gums in the creek to the north of the town.
Later it’s name was changed to “Farina” (Latin for wheat or flour) by farmers who optimistically hoped to turn the vast flat lands here into fields of grain.
For a few years the rains were unusually good, and the farms and town flourished, reaching a population of about 600 before the copper and silver mine closed in 1927.
At its peak the town had a bakery, grain store, two breweries, two hotels, a general store, post office, Anglican church, five blacksmiths and a school.
Then the normal climate returned … bringing years of drought and dust storms which eventually forcing the abandonment of the town.
Farina was the railhead from Port Augusta from 22/5/1882 until 1884 when the line was extended first to Marree and then Alice Springs. The line closed in the 1980’s and was removed in 1993.
Railway buildings included platforms, goods shed, sheep and cattle yards, station masters residence, workman’s cottage and a 5m gallon reservoir.
One of the more unusual cargoes embarked at Farina railway station was South Australia’s biggest meteorite. The 1.2 ton Murnpeowie iron Meteorite was dragged out of the desert north-east of here about a century ago; and can be seen today at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide.
Afghan camel drivers lived on Afghan hill, on the eastern side of the town. They brought in wool from the stations and delivered supplies to them. Chinese came to Farina as construction workers on the railway and some stayed on as gardeners.
The Farina cometary was last used in 1960 and the town was finally abandoned in the 1980’s.
You can view more photos that I took during my road trip travelling from Adelaide to Coober Pedy
Tourist Information
A bush camp ground with facilities has been established adjacent to Farina creek by the owners of Farina station.
Lyndhurst is located 606 km north of Adelaide at the crossroads of the Strzelecki and Oodnadatta Tracks. For more information contact the South Australian Visitor & Travel Centre
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You wonder what kind of life’s the people had that lived in the homes that now lay in ruins. Who their where and where did they go in the end, where they happy or sad?
…and I thought Coober Pedy was a ghost town! Those are chilling pictures. Puts me in mind of Mad Max.
Interesting information. Thank you for sharing it with us. This really makes me thing how there’s so many other places in the world that was once populated and now it is deserted..Its great to have people out there to research these places and tell us the history.
I’ve visited Australia 5 times and had no idea it had places similar to the place you’ve reviewed in this post. There is a lot of interesting facts one can learn about different lands! Great site!
Great post. There’s just something I love about ghost towns. In the states, I love visiting North Dakota for that reason - just stumble into some places where these tiny towns and churches have been abandoned for years. There’s something endlessly fascinating about that. Good post!
Australia, and especially the Outback, is such a great place to visit ghost towns, lonesome bush towns that had an interesting history. I always imagine how it must have been in the early days without modern day’s transport. I am fascinated by the history of the old ghan railway line. Thanks again for sharing th photos and the stories. I’ll sure be back to your blog.
Thank you for interesting information, but most of all I liked placed photos. This place looks strange, especially with this bicycle
That tricycle reminds me a little bit of The Shining. The place looks as dry as a bone. I don’t know why they thought they could grow crops at any time.