Buildings in Australia lie Abandoned

From a grand old Victorian-era pub in Queensland to an almost-ghost town in South Australia, these eerie abandoned places – once an important part of their communities – are now largely forgotten. Grand old pubs dot the corners of many an Australian main street. Many are still buzzing with activity, but the abandoned Broadway Hotel, in the Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba, had stood proudly since it was built in 1889 until fire gutted it in 2010, leaving it derelict. There have been plans to redevelop the site, but the hotel has been listed on the Queensland Heritage Register since 1992 and cannot be demolished. In the western Sydney suburb of Mulgoa lies the abandoned 45-hectare property formerly known as the Notre Dame Zoo. It and an adjoining private residence were built and owned by the eccentric, self-made millionaire Emmanuel Margolin. It was once one of the largest private zoos in the world, housing endangered animals such as pumas, jaguars, and nine species of monkeys. When Margolin died in 2012 the property was sold to foreign investors, but no development has taken place since, leaving nature to claim back many of the animal enclosures and buildings. A single abandoned building can be intriguing, but there’s something about almost a whole town that is much more eerie. Several ghost towns dot the southern Flinders Ranges region of South Australia, yet Hammond stands out, due to the large number of buildings that still remain intact. The town began in 1879 and existed to service the rail line and surrounding farming community, but saw its decline in population start from as early as the 1930s, leaving just several houses with full-time residents today.