Mary Kathleen

[goingbush]

Thought I might post a bit about a trip we did to the old Uranium Mining town on Friday, Its not a 4WD destination as such but if you going between Mt Isa & Cloncurry and you have a sense of history you'd be nuts to go past it.

I bumped into 'TroppoJon' (another member) at Supercheap in Mt Isa and he sugested I grab the book Cloncurry Trails, which is full of mud maps, a big help

I was also chatting with 'Tank' here on AULRO, he used to live and work there.

It was an errie feeling walking thru the town, not sure if I was looking into the past or future

below is virtually a cut & paste from out blog at Going Bush (http://goingbush.com)
written by my wife, Val

(the old pics were found on the google images, Frank might have some I can add)

-----------------------------------------

An early start today as we headed East along the Barkly Highway towards Cloncurry about 58kms
enroute to the Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine (now abandoned). The scenery along the way was great, I believe
it is still part of the Waggaboonyah Range. We turned North onto the road leading into the site of the
original township of Mary Kathleen.
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This road, once sealed, is now in a very bad state of disrepair, with
large holes in the bitumen where it has broken or been washed away. The site of the township is only
about 2km off the main Highway with a stone entranceway that must have looked quite grand when the
township existed. Just inside this entranceway is a large circular garden bed about 3ft high, no longer
welcoming and full of colour but over-grown and tangled with weeds.

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We had an aerial map of the original township and also a mud map with which to identify where the various
buildings originally stood. We drove through the entrance and turned left towards the site where the Police
Station was once housed. The roads were sealed and as yet, not overgrown with weeds so it was rather an
eerie feeling to drive along the streets of a once thriving town with only the concrete bases to give testament
to the once proud buildings that had stood on them.


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We pulled into the kerb in front of where the large Cafeteria used to be (parking correctly, habits are entrenched)
then got out to explore. We walked around, what would have been a lovely shaded square, and across the foundations
of the General Store, General Shops, Recreation Room, Library, Hotel, ANZ Bank, Town Office, Post Office, Medical Centre,
Town Hall and Pottery Club. At the corner of the Square was a large stone obelisk, its centre piece removed; just a circular
scar remained where the plaque denoting the opening of the town of Mary Kathleen in 1958 by Sir Robert Menzies (then Prime
Minister) had once taken pride of place. This stood in front of what would have been a pond with two stone garden surrounds
within. I'm sure this would have looked extremely attractive when the town was here.



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NOW

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THEN

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NOW

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THEN



We next walked across to where the Fire Station was housed then up through the residential area to the Police Station. It
was quite a strange feeling, walking across the foundations where other people had once called home; where they had done
their shopping, chatted with each other in the street and bustled around the various shops. Children would have laughed and
played as they rode their bikes around the Square. Now all that remained were some concrete foundations, broken floor tiles
and a few pathways with the odd plumbing evidence to remind you of the infrastructure that would have been needed for a town
of this size and population. As I stood there in reverie, I recalled when I came home on leave from the Army and visited the site
of the old house I had grown up in. I stood on the gravel road and just stared at the now empty acres in front of me; piles of dirt
heaped up where the old house used to stand. The trees I used to climb, still standing but looking small and insignificant without
all the surroundings that had made this my home. I cried as I gazed at my childhood of past, now obliterated by progress. Would
these children that once played here, in Mary Kathleen, feel the same if they revisited this site?

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ANZ BANK

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PMG OJ (spent most of my life working on these)

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We ambled back to the car and continued the drive clockwise, across the Corella River (dry) around past another residential area,
Apex Hall, BMX Track and up to the site of the Cinema and Lawn Bowling Club. Next we located the sites of the Swimming Pool,
School, Tennis Courts, Basketball area and the Sports Oval. These latter being on the South side of the Corella River. Crossing the
River again and past the residential area on the North side, we arrived back at the entrance to the town. This had been an extremely
thought provoking journey through this now abandoned township. Life moves on.

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Pool Change rooms


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Pool edge

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Pool Now

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Pool in its day

Some brief facts….the Uranium deposit was discovered by Clem Walton and Norm McConarchy in 1954. Mary Kathleen was named
after McConarchy's wife. The town enjoyed prosperity between 1956 and 1963 until it was placed in mothballs. It was re-opened in
1974 until 1983 when it was closed due to the Federal Government's three mine policy. Mary Kathleen was closed and the entire town
including houses, went to public auction in 1983. It is now privately owned and access allowed by the generosity of the owners. In 1961
the population was around 1,000 and by 1981 there were over 2,000 residents.

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Old processing plant area

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Drum looks about to burst


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We left the town area and took a dirt track North for about 6kms where we came across the concrete remnants of the mining operations.
We pottered about here for a short while then took another dirt track up to where we could gain access to view the Mine Pit. As we crossed
over a dry creek bed we spotted a number of wild camels just above us. They looked very fat and healthy. We arrived at the track that went
up to the Mine Pit but before hiking up this track, we went up on top of a nearby hill and enjoyed the view whilst we boiled the billy and enjoyed
a toasted sandwich that Don cooked on his little cooker just beautifully.

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Crushing plant

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crusher

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back when

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Back down the hill, we parked at the fence, wriggled around the side of it and began the long trek to the Open Cut. The walk to the Mine Pit
was about 1.5kms (3km round trip), which wasn't difficult. Once at the top, there were a few rock barriers to climb over to get a good view. It is
not the biggest Open Cut we have seen but it was definitely interesting and significant because it is a Uranium Mine. Back down the hill again,
around the fence and back in the Landy, we headed back to the highway and West to Mt. Isa.

[sheerluck]

Not a place I'd heard of before!

Great piccies, though.

[jonesfam]

Did you visit the Mary K museum in the Curry, quite interesting. We stopped in at Mary K a few years back after the a big wet, weird but & the wife just wanted to go home so we didn't stay long.
Jonesfam

[snowbound]

Landy.. V8, petrol or gas? Not any more its Nuclear! looks awesome, sounds interesting. Was it safe? I saw the radiation symbols on stuff there, it's not like that just disappears in a few years??

[ramblingboy42]

don't defenders look great out in the bush....you look at the defender as well as the scenery.....if it was an LC200 you would look straight past it.....

[Bearman]

Those pics bring back a few memories. I used to live in the Isa back then and was at the clearance sale where the houses and all were auctioned. There were trucking companies there waiting to move the houses.

[Cobber]

Thanks very much for those pictures - brought back memories from when I visited about 15 years ago :BigThumb:

Did that (near bursting!) drum actually have anything in it? :eek:

[Homestar]

Wow, never heard of that place before. Reminds me of Yallourn down in the Latrobe Valley. It was built by the SEC for the workers of the Yallourn open cut and Power Station. It was a beautiful town, but torn down in the 70's to get to the coal deposits underneath. where it was is just a hole ithe ground now. My parents moved one of the houses way back when to Boolarra where I grew up. I remember as a kid going to the Yallourn cinema and going to the pool there. They were about the last surviving part of the town.

Looks like it wasn't the only town to disappear due to the ebb and flow of mining.

Thanks heaps for posting this.:)

[juddy]

Thanks for posting, what a interesting place. One day it's full of people , then gone forever.

[justinc]

Wifes family (and her as a little one who went to school there) lived/ worked there in the 70's. We went back a while ago and had a look, dead cow on one of the old housing slabs, and that blue colour of the old pit was amazing. I liked the no swimming signs complete with radiation warnings:D

SWMBOs father helped construct the gun club back then, and we went on a trip out to the wee Mcgregor mine where we saw graffiti on the walls of a tunnel that we could just squeeze the rangie and CT through where names of some of his friends and work mates had been drawn from wayyy back then!

http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=col&fn=j8h662ab&c=43&col=show&or=2&sz=3&pg=0&yr=0&mo=39739271

http://www.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=264954&cmd=sp


We continued on and camped at fountain springs, a very quiet and peaceful campsite.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fountain+springs+qld&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Xpi9UazBD82YiAeM04DADQ&biw=1280&bih=685&sei=X5i9Ufy8O4XkkgXeuIDIAw#facrc=_&imgrc=D2E7Pdb_3A0_rM%3A%3BMZ7ttgJlou59oM%3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Ffarm5.static.flickr.com%252F4016%252F4 305255265_f32ebbb5cb.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Foutb ackrover.blogspot.com%252F2010%252F01%252Ffountain-springs.html%3B282%3B500

JC

[weeds]

Thanks for posting, what a interesting place. One day it's full of people , then gone forever.

i believe Campbell Newman has announce uranium mining will start up again.........this place maybe full of people again;);)


Wifes family (and her as a little one who went to school there) lived/ worked there in the 70's. We went back a while ago and had a look, dead cow on one of the old housing slabs, and that blue colour of the old pit was amazing. I liked the no swimming signs complete with radiation warnings:D


with uranium mining set to start again radiation queensland visited our site recently as we are one of the few mines that produce products with raised radiation levels.....hopefully some of our good work will be used at these mines in the future

[goingbush]

Did you visit the Mary K museum in the Curry, quite interesting. We stopped in at Mary K a few years back after the a big wet, weird but & the wife just wanted to go home so we didn't stay long.
Jonesfam

Thanks, we are stopping at Cloncurry, must check out the museum.



Landy.. V8, petrol or gas? Not any more its Nuclear! looks awesome, sounds interesting. Was it safe? I saw the radiation symbols on stuff there, it's not like that just disappears in a few years??

I think if it wasnt safe in the general area it would be closed to the public, but there was a locked gate on the track to the pit, which you can easily walk around. When I was checking google images I saw a pic of 3 blokes swimming in that toxic water. Now I'm ok with not wearing sunscreen but thats just plain crazy.
(I did pick up one rock sample that glows orange under UV light)


Thanks very much for those pictures - brought back memories from when I visited about 15 years ago :BigThumb:

Did that (near bursting!) drum actually have anything in it? :eek:

I wasnt game to touch it, it looked very much under pressure, both caps were still intact.



JC, thanks for the tip, wee McGregor is on our list. Hope the cow didnt die of radiation poisoning. Next time I might pack a geiger counter :D


Weeds, very interesting, History repeats itself !!!

[V8Ian]

There's not a great deal in the 'Curry but the bowls club puts on a decent feed.

[justinc]

Thanks, we are stopping at Cloncurry, must check out the museum.




I think if it wasnt safe in the general area it would be closed to the public, but there was a locked gate on the track to the pit, which you can easily walk around. When I was checking google images I saw a pic of 3 blokes swimming in that toxic water. Now I'm ok with not wearing sunscreen but thats just plain crazy.
(I did pick up one rock sample that glows orange under UV light)



I wasnt game to touch it, it looked very much under pressure, both caps were still intact.



JC, thanks for the tip, wee McGregor is on our list. Hope the cow didnt die of radiation poisoning. Next time I might pack a geiger counter :D


Weeds, very interesting, History repeats itself !!!


I'm not sure you will get the 110 through the Bellara Tunnel Don. it was a tight squeeze at one end, When we were there I had to remove the roofracks on the Rangie to get through, it did have a bit of a suspension lift and a body lift so you might be right in the defender... the bats in the roof were quite active while we had lunch in there and when they smelt the bacon cooking, 2 actually fell onto the floor and were quite unwell from the cooking fumes i recall:(....:p

a fantastic trip, well worth the look around there.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=mary+kathleen+house&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47883778,d.dGI&biw=1280&bih=685&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=taC9UfbPFsq3iQfO5oDwCw#facrc=_&imgrc=fGOR5ghS72ULsM%3A%3B_gRxVKMevM6RgM%3Bhttp%25 3A%252F%252Fwww.physicstramp.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F10%252FIsaMKSilly 010a1.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.physicstramp.co m%252Faustralia2%252Ffrom-home-of-bullion-to-mary-kathleen%252F%3B3071%3B2039

this was a typical company house, the extra doors were actually fire escape doors for every bedroom, the lean to on the side of the building housed the laundry, and my sister in law rode her tricycle straight off the end of the verandah and broke her nose at age 3 or therabouts...:o

the better half has heaps of stories about life there as an 8 year old.

jc

[justinc]

wee mcgregor mine - Google Maps (http://goo.gl/maps/YCdxH)

the ballara tunnel :)

[Tank]

Wow, never heard of that place before. Reminds me of Yallourn down in the Latrobe Valley. It was built by the SEC for the workers of the Yallourn open cut and Power Station. It was a beautiful town, but torn down in the 70's to get to the coal deposits underneath. where it was is just a hole ithe ground now. My parents moved one of the houses way back when to Boolarra where I grew up. I remember as a kid going to the Yallourn cinema and going to the pool there. They were about the last surviving part of the town.

Looks like it wasn't the only town to disappear due to the ebb and flow of mining.

Thanks heaps for posting this.:)
I lived and worked at both Yallourn and mary K, i must be a jinx or something, probably something, Regards Frank.

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[Homestar]

Frank, I hope it wasn't you that was driving the truck that turned turtle...:D

Some great photos there - thanks.

[Tank]

Frank, I hope it wasn't you that was driving the truck that turned turtle...:D

Some great photos there - thanks.
No it wasn't me, I was working on the construction side of the mine, at that time we were building the Rod Mill loader, the truck driver wasn't hurt, he was playing silly buggers by racing the other dump trucks, didn't help that the loader was digging away at the bottom of the stockpile. Was a great place to work and made some good friends, great hunting in the gulf country as well, Regards Frank.

[BMKal]

When were the photos taken Frank ????

In the late 60's we lived at a place called Moline in the NT (east of Pine Creek). My father worked for a company called "United Uranium". They had the Moline mine (was silver, lead, zinc at the time, but at various times in its life, the mill had processed gold, copper and uranium as well). They also had the El Sharana uranium mine (not operating when we were there), as well as the South Alligator gold mine.

I remember that the geologists used to travel regularly between Moline and Mary K - the work vehicles in those days were all Landrovers (I learnt to drive in one of them). My father had a Series II trayback, and his private car was an Austin Freeway wagon, which we used to travel regularly to either Darwin or Katherine in.

Went back up there for a look a few years ago - there's still a lot of things up there that I remember as a kid.

[zulu Delta 534]

On the southern side of the highway there was a dam, Clem Walton dam, that was constructed to supply water to the township of Mary K. The turnoff was almost opposite the township turnoff if I remember correctly.
When I was a pup and drove tourist coaches throughout the centre of Australia we used to call in at the park area at the dam for tea en route to the Isa. A magnificent area in its day, green lawn, shady trees and rock wallabies everywhere, a perfect oasis in a harsh countryside.
A bit of fun getting a 40' coach in though sometimes but we managed it.
I remember stalling in the creek one time in first gear and causing the engine (GM 671) to run backwards for a short time. That was fun, sucking in through the exhaust and exhausting tons of smoke through the air intake (situated in the rear toilet area in a coach) straight into the passenger compartment.
Back in those days some of the old original track from the Curry to Mt Isa that was known as the "horror stretch" back in the 'Redex trial' days of Jack Murray and the likes, was still visible from the highway.
That must have been a track and a half and yet they drove conventional cars over it. (Well, some managed it!)
Country areas such as this all have a distinctive attraction to them, its just that today we have modern roads that allow speeds of 100+kms and we don't see half of what is out there.
It is great to see people getting out and smelling the daisies, rather than simply "doing" a road.
Regards
Glen

[goingbush]

Thanks for posting the photos Frank
excellent

great to hear peoples memories of the area.

Glen, will make a point of checking out Clem Walton Dam, are heading that way in a couple of days.

"smelling the daisies" is what its all about !

[MBZ460]

There is more info here, including some past photos:
Mary Kathleen | Queensland Places (http://queenslandplaces.com.au/mary-kathleen)#

[zulu Delta 534]

I have just gone back through some photographs, and when you get old you are allowed to make mistakes so I have been told.
It should be Clem Walton PARK at the Corella Dam, rather than the Clem Walton Dam.
I have no idea what it is like nowadays.
Regards
Glen

[goingbush]

There is more info here, including some past photos:
Mary Kathleen | Queensland Places (http://queenslandplaces.com.au/mary-kathleen)#

Nice, thanks
check out slide 32

80" series one in drag

[ezyrama]

We rode past it on the motorbikes whilst on a road trip 2 years ago. I wondered at the time what it was all about, but never looked into it. Heading back out that way in August on a ride to Ayers Rock so I'll have to make a point of stopping and taking a look. Thanks for that, very interesting.
Cheers Ian

[Tank]

Brian, 1976, was with McFee const. and we were refurbishing the slurry pipes, building new conveyor belt runs, chutes and the job I was on, the rod Mill loader. Which was a device that shoved the manganese rods (about 4" dia.x20' long) into the mouth of the Rod Mill. Biggest problem was that the I beam rails, which were about 30' long would warp when the sun got onto them and it was a bugger to align them with the Mill. Could only work on the Mill (shown in the pics) up to about 1:00PM as the Sun would heat the steel up and your boots would start to melt.
We (Mc Fee) also built the new plant, a 3 storey heated Cyclone gadget to turn the Yellow Cake into Uranium Oxide. In the afternoon we worked under the slurry tanks where it was cool, or a bit cooler anyway.
Biggest adventure I had was flying home at Easter and driving my 69 fairlaine back up from sydney, through Bourke and central Queensland in 2 days, did the Landsborough Hwy. from Winton to Cloncurry, took nearly 10 hours, piece of **** in a Landrover but not in the Farlaine, the underneath of the car was polished from the grass hump in the middle of the road (track), tore the entire exhaust system off on what Queenslanders call a river ford. Had to stop at most dry river crossings to build up a ramp to get over the concrete slabs that had been moved by the previous floods. Some of the differences in height between slabs were up to 2', my exhaust fell victim to one that was only six inches high. What a hell of a trip that was, never seen another soul, going either way the whole trip, now it's a tarred hwy. and apart from the scenery it would be very boring. Unusual country around MK, all looks the same wouldn't take much to get lost out there, the Highway between Cloncurry and Mt. Isa was known as the Crystal Hwy. from all the broken windscreen glass. Cattle used to be a big problem on the road, one of the boys wrote off his Holden panel van when he hit a giant steer, even the roof of the van section was buckled.
Had some wild Saturday nights in the Isa, esp. with the Gentleman in the photo of the Town square, with his chest puffed up, His name is/was Garney Jones, the hardest man I ever met, would rather have a fight than a feed and I never heard of anyone who could better him, hope he's still around, he was in his sixties when the pic was taken.
Most weekends we would hire a Suzuki 4WD and head up North for some Pig shooting, used to drive along the dry bed of the Leichhardt river, find a water hole and wait for the pigs to arrive, thousands of cats to shoot as well.
Will be putting MK on the bucket list, have to get back and see it again. Regards Frank.