Scenes from Glen Davis in Capertee Valley

Glen Davis is a tiny town situated in the Capertee Valley. The valley forms a canyon that is apparently (according to Wikipedia, so it must be correct!) the second largest canyon in the world.  Only the Grand Canyon is larger.

From 1938, the town became the centre of an oil shale industry and housed over 2000 people at it's height. However, the township was almost completely abandoned in 1952 because shale oil was not viable in a non-war, non-government supported economic environment. After the closure of the oil shale mine, the skeleton of a town survived in the form of some properties, a post office (that is now closed) and a shop or two that survived intermittently.  Now the shops are closed too.

The creation of the Wollemi National Park has brought a degree of tourism to the area, especially attracting birders like me who can see an unusually high number of species here.  That's what attracted me here in 2007 but this time I was on a mission to photograph the old, abandoned shale mine.