Glen Davis Oil Shale Works Tours
This tour encompasses a 1.5 to 2 hour walking tour of the ruins of Australia's first attempt to produce petrol from shale.
Brief Shale mining History.
Why Shale mining for Petrol?
11 substantial brick houses for staff, a staff hostel made of brick accommodating 30 junior staff, 100 permanent and 50 'war-type' individually owned residences. a group of barracks with accommodation and boarding for 120 single men, a commercial hotel with 25 rooms, 'Bag Town' of 250 mostly sub-standard dwellings (tents made of hessian bags), The school had 260 pupils and 7 teachers. There was a post office, a bank and a police station, a doctor, a pharmacist, three churches, a community centre, golf course, bowling green, childrens’ playground, tennis courts, two general stores, a pharmacy, a garage, a 'saloon' (a bar separate from the hotel), a barber shop, a hotel, a motion-picture theatre in the 'Bag Town' and a bakery. At its peak, the population reached approximately 2000 with an ambulance station, for two ambulances, that had been funded by the people of the town.
This Book by Leonie Knapman, who lived at the site as a
child. It sets out to document the buildings and people at the Glen Davis Oil
Shale works. This was Australia's first attempt at producing petrol from Shale.
