Explore this historic township of Walhalla, once Australia’s most wealthy town thanks to the Gold Rush. Today it has been lovingly restored to allow you to take a step back in time and discover its past – tour the gold mine, soak up the architecture and brave one of the town’s spooky ghost tours!
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3 Responses to “Discover Walhalla”
Comment by Anna — March 2, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
Walhalla was the place of my ancestors. One of my great-grandfathers was working on board the first ever train that pulled into the town, to be greeted by crowds of enthusiastic townsfolk crammed onto the platform. One of them was my future great-grandmother, and they met for the first time during the celebrations that day. In the possession of our family is a postcard commemmorating the event, with a sepia photograph of the train surrounded by crowds of 1880s miners’ families in their best dress.
They ended up raising several children there and many of them (surname of Gorrie I think, though I’ll have to check with my father), ended up in Walhalla cemetery where they can still be visited today.
I went to Walhalla 10 years ago on a crisp, sunny winter’s day. The place was dead, just a tiny museum where we looked up some family history, the historic Star Hotel which is the sole survivor of the decline and bushfires that gradually emptied the town, and we went down the gold mine to spot the twinkles in the rock-hewn walls.
It’s great to see this video and see that Walhalla’s being promoted as a bona fide ghost town, and that others will come up into the mountains to experience its incredibly tranquil, eerie, restrospective vibe. Now that they’re doing ghost tours I will have to come back, and see if I can make contact with my hardy great-grandparents and their clan.
Comment by Gina — August 14, 2009 @ 10:06 am
To Anna who left a comment about Gorrie’s being buried at Walhalla.
Would love to make contact with you as they are my ancestors too
Comment by Anna — August 14, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
Hi Gina,
Really? That’s interesting…! What’s your family tree? Whereabouts do you live?
You can get in touch with me via this site, I am on the Community > Experts panel, so leave me a comment or message me – I’d love to find out more!
Anna Scrivenger