DIARY OF A GHOST HUNTER

October – I’m off on another adventure today. Heading to Joadja Creek a ghost town out past Sydney NSW in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales , Australia , in Wingecarribee Shire . Joadga was a mining town between 1870–1911 and home to around 1,100 people, many of whom were skilled immigrants from Scotland. It 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 oil shale from which kerosene was extracted by the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Co.   By 1911 the process was superseded by conventional kerosene production from oil and oil shale mining became uneconomical. The town became deserted as inhabitants relocated in search of work. The property was auctioned off that year to a private buyer. The township is still recognisable, despite the state of its ruins. The sandstone school, the mine, houses, refinery and even the cemetery rem