I've just been reading about one of the strangest towns on our planet. It's a little place called Cooladdi, which is located on the Diamentina Development Road 826 km (c. 515 miles) west of Brisbane in southern Queensland. This little place had a post-office and associated post-code, a pub, a restaurant, a motel and a grocery store. These facilities enable Cooladdi to be called a 'town', despite the fact that it has no school, police station, bank, or mobile phone connection!
What is more surprising is its population size. The total resident population of this town is 3 (yes, 3) but I gather there's a fair through traffic of tourists and local farmers. And these three people are all members of one family. Also surprising is that the services indicated are all located in one tiny cluster alongside the Diamentina road which also serves as a main street. Perhaps 'main street' is a misnomer since it is the only street in town! The cluster of buildings is known as the Fox Trap. That's also odd as foxes are not native to Australia.
If you click on the following URL you'll a lovely picture of this prospering little community:
https://goo.gl/maps/SEJQL5NRAJs4jAc7A .
Cooladdi, by the way, is an aboriginal word meaning 'black duck'. Back in the early 19th century it was home to over 270 people but, like so many outback places, residents have just died or disbursed, and larger places, like Charleville 100 km to the east, have siphoned off service provision. There is a smattering of deserted buildings, rusted abandoned cars, a decrepit tennis court, and even a railway platform on a long abandoned line.
Australia has hundreds of small places that are dying or dead, and Armidale's region is no exception. We have such nearby places as Wandsworth, Dundee, Glencoe and Ben Lomond - all named after places in Britain - and I doubt if their combined populations are greater than 20!
AS
What is more surprising is its population size. The total resident population of this town is 3 (yes, 3) but I gather there's a fair through traffic of tourists and local farmers. And these three people are all members of one family. Also surprising is that the services indicated are all located in one tiny cluster alongside the Diamentina road which also serves as a main street. Perhaps 'main street' is a misnomer since it is the only street in town! The cluster of buildings is known as the Fox Trap. That's also odd as foxes are not native to Australia.
If you click on the following URL you'll a lovely picture of this prospering little community:
https://goo.gl/maps/SEJQL5NRAJs4jAc7A .
Cooladdi, by the way, is an aboriginal word meaning 'black duck'. Back in the early 19th century it was home to over 270 people but, like so many outback places, residents have just died or disbursed, and larger places, like Charleville 100 km to the east, have siphoned off service provision. There is a smattering of deserted buildings, rusted abandoned cars, a decrepit tennis court, and even a railway platform on a long abandoned line.
Australia has hundreds of small places that are dying or dead, and Armidale's region is no exception. We have such nearby places as Wandsworth, Dundee, Glencoe and Ben Lomond - all named after places in Britain - and I doubt if their combined populations are greater than 20!
AS
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