Joadja, New South Wales
Encyclopedia
Joadja is a ghost town
in the Southern Highlands
of New South Wales
, Australia
, in Wingecarribee Shire.
It was a thriving mining town between 1870–1911. It was home for approximately 1100 people, many of Scots ancestry, and was connected to the nearby town of Mittagong by a narrow gauge
railway that terminated adjacent to the main Southern Railway line in Mittagong. The town existed to mine shale from which kerosene was extracted by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Co. The process was superseded by conventional kerosene production from oil and the shale mining technique became uneconomical. By 1911, the town had become deserted as inhabitants relocated in search of work.
Situated in a deep valley, the town had limited access by road but this has improved in the last thirty years although much of the access road is unsealed. There are the remains of the old school, the mine, houses and retorts and several graves.
Local lore is that the old town is haunted by at least two ghosts.
There have been attempts in recent years to establish a tourist facility in the valley along with a boutique distillery. Large parts of the valley have now been sub-divided and sold for hobby farm
s.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
in the Southern Highlands
Southern Highlands, New South Wales
The Southern Highlands, also locally referred to as the Highlands, is a geographical region and district in New South Wales, Australia and is 110 km south-west of Sydney. The entire region is under the local government area of the Wingecarribee Shire...
of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, in Wingecarribee Shire.
It was a thriving mining town between 1870–1911. It was home for approximately 1100 people, many of Scots ancestry, and was connected to the nearby town of Mittagong by a narrow gauge
Narrow gauge
A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of between and .- Overview :...
railway that terminated adjacent to the main Southern Railway line in Mittagong. The town existed to mine shale from which kerosene was extracted by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Co. The process was superseded by conventional kerosene production from oil and the shale mining technique became uneconomical. By 1911, the town had become deserted as inhabitants relocated in search of work.
Situated in a deep valley, the town had limited access by road but this has improved in the last thirty years although much of the access road is unsealed. There are the remains of the old school, the mine, houses and retorts and several graves.
Local lore is that the old town is haunted by at least two ghosts.
There have been attempts in recent years to establish a tourist facility in the valley along with a boutique distillery. Large parts of the valley have now been sub-divided and sold for hobby farm
Hobby farm
A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some recreational land, and perhaps a few horses for the family's children...
s.