The Town Of Ballara That Time Forgot.

After traveling down from Hightville to the main road which is gravel the township of Ballara was across the road.

The town came into existence after the government surveyed the area where the new railway could be built but the town of Hightville was not a good location as the terrain to hilly and hard to get to. 

Information board has some history of this place. The below text is a exert from this information board to make easier reading.

BALLARA

Ballara was surveyed in 1913, after it was realized that Hightville was unsuitable for a rail teminus. The Cosmopolitan Hotel, renamed "The Macgregor" was the first building to make the move, followed by the establishment of smaller shops. 

Paday Walsh and Ted Norton provided a general store and bakery, Percy House and Dan Parker a butchery, and Mrs Pat Sweeny built the first boarding house. 

The company store and post office was locared at nearby Higntville. Ihe town of thirty familes and an equal number or single miners, Swelled to a population f over 1, 000, when the mines worked at their peak.

The miners worked day shift only for six days a week. LeIsure included drinking beer, betting on the local horse races and playing billiards. 

In the aftemoons, tne patrons Could hear the horns of the milk goats raking the bearers as they walked under the hotel. Picnics south to Fountain Springs or east to tne larger town or Kundala were outings to remember. 

Before tne amIval or the 3'6" gauge rail line, transpot was provided by Coach dnvers Edwards and Lidster.

Water for the town was sourced from Jimmie's Creek and transported to each house by horse and dray.

There was no local saddler or blacksmith, so Hensieys Stables, the local Cobb and Co agents In Cloncury, satisfied both demands. There was aiso no church, so either the congregatons in Cloncury or Kunidala serviced the town. News of the world came through the Cloncury newspapers, tne "Advocate" and the News, and through the "Sentinel" from Kundala.

Due to the uncertainty of the mineral field, buildings of the area were a unique type of demountable, with every part numbered for a code. The hotel, boarding house, and pnvate homes were all bolted together in such a way as to allow them to bedismantled, transported by dray and re-erected at another Site. 

The Cosmopolitan Hotel, ongmaly built in Ravenswood, resided in Hightville, Ballara and Cloncumy. Shutters replaced windows and mosquito nets on frames controlled pest.

The Ballara Provisional School was opened on Juily 7, 1919, after the school and the teacher Timothy Kileen, were moved from Hightvile. David Arndt amved in Ballara as a new teacher on May 3, 1921, but was granted sick leave due to war wounds and later died in Santhorpe.

George Corboy and George Sargent followed as teachers until the schools closure on Febuery 28, 1925. In 1921 and 1922, the Balara polce staion was manned by Actng Sergeant John Gillick and Constable M. Kinnane. 

It was decided that the station was required in Mount Isa, so the buildingsand cells were re-erected there on July 31, 1924.

The Ballara District Hospital Serviced the small towns and mining operations of the area. In 1921, the matron of the hospital was Sister Mary Duncan, the medical practitioner was Dr Rae, the accountant and secretary was Fraser Knox, and the cook was Selina Matthews.

For many years, the undertaker, Bill Cocking, used the cemetery at Hightville. Funerals were sometimes delayed for days while relatives were informed and travelled.There was just no way to preserve the deceased in the coffin whilst the nearest source of ice was miles away in Kuridala. 

One day, the ultimate embarrassment occurred after a bumpy ride in a spring cart on a hot summer afternoon. As a result, a cemetery was established just to the north of Ballara. 

The Great War contributed to high copper prices, however when the conflict ended in November 1918, the value of copper fell below production costs. The closure of the Hampden Cloncurry Copper Mines Limited smelter at Kuridala in 1920 saw the closure of mining production at the MacGregor mining fields. The company director recommended all work cease and all equipment be dismantled and removed.

The township then had no purpose and a large proportion of the demountable building were carefully removed to Cloncurry and the surrounding area. The local workforce was absorbed into the railways and pastoral industries. A few exemptions stayed and gouged on private mineral shows, hoping for the fickle minerals market to rebound.

This is an exert of this sign for easier reading.

Town of Ballara

The Town of Ballara was originally surveyed in June 1914 on the site of Lady Lease Flats'.The town formed the primary commercial and residential hub for the Hampden Mining Company interests in the Wee MacGregor Mine situated in the hills to the north.

In 1920, the town boasted a hospital, school, butchers, refreshment rooms, stores, a boarding house, a railway station and a post office. However, after the closure of the mine in the same year, the town eventually disappeared, and by 1927, no names or institutions were listed under the town name of Ballara.

Today, the foundation remains of the railway station, goods shed, the railway manager's house and several stores are still evident. The remains of railway infrastructure also dot the surrounding area and the small Ballara cemetery lies to the east of the town beside the main access road.

The path ahead leads to the remnants of the town and include the Ballara Station platform, managers house, and several stores. 

Well you see the path and what's left of the train station. This is where the mine transferred it's copper ore from their 5 ton wagons onto the 20 ton wagons on the government railline. 

This is all about the town of Ballara that from 1927 was forgotten after the town's closure. The information board mentioned that the miners family would picnic at Fountain Springs and this will our next adventure, but you will have to wait for the next blog, hope you have enjoyed the history of this area.

The pictures below shows the original rail station over a 100yrs ago, these pictures are from the information board.