Flailinginge
Retort ruins
Glen Davis is a tiny village in the Capertee Valley (the largest enclosed valley in the Southern Hemisphere).The district was occupied by the Wiradjuri people prior to white settlement, the first European in the immediate vicinity was James Blackman who journeyed north from his depot at what is now Wallerawang towards Mudgee in 1821.
Oil shale was discovered on the future site of Glen Davis in 1873, the first mining tunnel at that site was established in 1881.
Glen Davis works were opened in 1938 and a town of about 2500 people quickly developed around the works which employed 1600 people at their peak in the 1940s. It was named Glen Davis after the Davis Gelatine interests who headed NOP.
Supplies were already running out by 1949 and the end of Chifley's Labor Government meant the end of heavy and on-going assistance from the government. Costs were high, output was low and cheap crude oil was available from the Middle East. Consequently the works closed in 1952. The machinery was stripped in 1953, leaving the ruins which remain today.
Retort ruins
Glen Davis is a tiny village in the Capertee Valley (the largest enclosed valley in the Southern Hemisphere).The district was occupied by the Wiradjuri people prior to white settlement, the first European in the immediate vicinity was James Blackman who journeyed north from his depot at what is now Wallerawang towards Mudgee in 1821.
Oil shale was discovered on the future site of Glen Davis in 1873, the first mining tunnel at that site was established in 1881.
Glen Davis works were opened in 1938 and a town of about 2500 people quickly developed around the works which employed 1600 people at their peak in the 1940s. It was named Glen Davis after the Davis Gelatine interests who headed NOP.
Supplies were already running out by 1949 and the end of Chifley's Labor Government meant the end of heavy and on-going assistance from the government. Costs were high, output was low and cheap crude oil was available from the Middle East. Consequently the works closed in 1952. The machinery was stripped in 1953, leaving the ruins which remain today.