Gwalia, Western Australia

Gwalia is a famous ghost town in Western Australia, Australia. A ghost town is a town that most people have left. It is in the desert area known as the Goldfields-Esperance, about 828 kilometres (514 miles) from the city of Perth. The small number of people who still live there are often counted with the nearby town of Leonora.

 History 
Gwalia began because of gold. In 1896, prospectors (gold hunters) found a rich spot of gold. They called the mine the "Sons of Gwalia" to honor the Welsh background of one of the people who paid for the search. "Gwalia" is an old name for Wales.

The town quickly grew around the mine. People built simple houses out of wood, iron, and cloth. A famous person worked here: Herbert Hoover. He was a young American engineer who was the mine's manager for a short time in 1898. He later became the 31st President of the United States. 

The mine was one of the biggest and most successful in Western Australia for a long time. It kept working for 65 years. Then on December 27, 1963, the mine suddenly closed.Gwalia Museum Homepage 

Because the mine was the only work available in the town, almost all the people left very quickly. The town's population dropped from about 1,200 people to only 40 in a few weeks. The people left their homes and things behind.

 Present day 
Today, Gwalia is an open-air museum. You can walk through the empty streets and see the houses, shops, and the old State Hotel just as people left them. This gives visitors a look at what life was like during the gold rush. 

Even though the town is a ghost town, the Gwalia Gold Mine has opened again. Modern mining is still taking place next to the historic town area.

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