Olary. Ambinga Station homestead. Ambinga station is on Olary Creek to the north of the town. This homestead has fine leadlight windows. Built around 1920. Ambinga Sation with 33,000 acres sold in 1926.
Olary. Like other towns along the highway Olary was established in 1887 when the Barrier Range railway reached there. Three early pastoralists named Duffield, Harrold and Hurd name their leasehold run Olary. When the Post Office opened in the new town it was named Oolarie but was renamed Olary by 1896. The town has an old stone hotel, the ruins of a stone bakery and a former galvanised iron public hall. It once had a railway station and some housing for railway workers. Its historical importance is that Australia’s first uranium mine began near here in 1909. The uranium deposits were discovered in 1906 and the mine operated until 1914. Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson owned half the mine lease site. Mawson was the one who named it Radium Hill as Marie Curie had only just extracted uranium from the ores to obtain radium in 1910. She began her work on radioactivity in the 1890s and discovered the existence of a new element which she named radium in 1898. It was far more radioactive than uranium. She only succeeding in extracting pure radium in 1910. Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the only woman to receive two (1903 and 1911) and they were in different fields- Physics and Chemistry. During World War One she developed Xray technology for mobile medical units on battle fields.
After the initial attempts to mine uranium failed a second phase of mining was conducted at Radium Hill from 1923 to 1932 with a new company. It was the third phase that saw the construction of a desert city at Radium Hill. This last phase lasted from 1954 to 1961 to provide uranium to the British, Australian and American governments for atomic testing etc. 165 houses were built, 220 two man huts for single men were erected, and a hospital, two churches, two schools, swimming pools and a shopping centre were all constructed out in the wilderness. At its peak the town had over 1,100 residents. 5,000 trees were planted and lush green lawns surrounded the houses. Water came from the Barrier Ranges and electricity via a new power line from Morgan. A cemetery was established in the town and over the eight years the hospital delivered 117 babies. When the UK and USA contracts lapsed the site was closed down and residents moved out. From 1981 to 1998 the site was used to store low level radioactive waste from Australian cities. Access to the site is still controlled by the government and strictly limited. Former residents are permitted to return once a year for an Easter camp. Few buildings remain but mining equipment is rusting away there and the former Catholic Church walls are still standing. The former residents have gathered memorabilia to the town and the mine era which is now housed since April 2019 in the Peterborough Museum.
Olary. Ambinga Station homestead. Ambinga station is on Olary Creek to the north of the town. This homestead has fine leadlight windows. Built around 1920. Ambinga Sation with 33,000 acres sold in 1926.
Olary. Like other towns along the highway Olary was established in 1887 when the Barrier Range railway reached there. Three early pastoralists named Duffield, Harrold and Hurd name their leasehold run Olary. When the Post Office opened in the new town it was named Oolarie but was renamed Olary by 1896. The town has an old stone hotel, the ruins of a stone bakery and a former galvanised iron public hall. It once had a railway station and some housing for railway workers. Its historical importance is that Australia’s first uranium mine began near here in 1909. The uranium deposits were discovered in 1906 and the mine operated until 1914. Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson owned half the mine lease site. Mawson was the one who named it Radium Hill as Marie Curie had only just extracted uranium from the ores to obtain radium in 1910. She began her work on radioactivity in the 1890s and discovered the existence of a new element which she named radium in 1898. It was far more radioactive than uranium. She only succeeding in extracting pure radium in 1910. Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize and the only woman to receive two (1903 and 1911) and they were in different fields- Physics and Chemistry. During World War One she developed Xray technology for mobile medical units on battle fields.
After the initial attempts to mine uranium failed a second phase of mining was conducted at Radium Hill from 1923 to 1932 with a new company. It was the third phase that saw the construction of a desert city at Radium Hill. This last phase lasted from 1954 to 1961 to provide uranium to the British, Australian and American governments for atomic testing etc. 165 houses were built, 220 two man huts for single men were erected, and a hospital, two churches, two schools, swimming pools and a shopping centre were all constructed out in the wilderness. At its peak the town had over 1,100 residents. 5,000 trees were planted and lush green lawns surrounded the houses. Water came from the Barrier Ranges and electricity via a new power line from Morgan. A cemetery was established in the town and over the eight years the hospital delivered 117 babies. When the UK and USA contracts lapsed the site was closed down and residents moved out. From 1981 to 1998 the site was used to store low level radioactive waste from Australian cities. Access to the site is still controlled by the government and strictly limited. Former residents are permitted to return once a year for an Easter camp. Few buildings remain but mining equipment is rusting away there and the former Catholic Church walls are still standing. The former residents have gathered memorabilia to the town and the mine era which is now housed since April 2019 in the Peterborough Museum.