Greta Courthouse History and Ghost Tour
Event description
Dark Tours!
Interactive History and Ghost Tour!
The town of Greta started as small community around Anvil Creek in the 1830’s and prior to the arrival of Europeans the area was occupied by the Wanaruah First Nations people. The town was surveyed and name Greta in 1842 after a small river in Cumberland England.
Coal mining was established in the area in 1862 with the development of a railway station. Kerosene shale was discovered in 1864 and by the 1870’s, Greta had four hotels, four churches, a school and school of arts buildings in the town. In 1886 Geologist Edgeworth David discovered the Greta coal seam and by 1910, ten collieries were in operation.
In 1939 an Army Training Camp was established, compromising of 2,930 acres and used as a training ground for the 6th Division of the 2AIF, World War 2 soldier training for 60,000 troops. After World War 2 the towns population grew as it became a migrant camp for European refugees, with over 100,000 migrants passing through the camp during the eleven years of operation. The land was sold at auction and there is nothing left of a place where over 160,000 soldiers and migrants lived.
The Greta Courthouse was built in 1890 and is one of the town’s most dominant buildings, built from red bricks with arched windows, a slate gambrel roof and upper windows to let light into the courtroom. The courthouse has an arcaded veranda on three sides and a pediment over the entry.
In the side street is a bronze plaque for the 36 local men killed in the local collieries from 1874 to 1964, and one man, Norman Brown, shot by police during the Rothbury Riot of 1929, where 45 other miners were also injured by police.
A small town rich in history with so many stories to discover!
Use a wide range of hands on equipment for your own experience!
Can we connect and communicate with those from the past?
Will we hear reenactments of a court case?
Will you feel or see anything?
What will you capture in a photo?
Join us and you be the judge!
14+ years with an adult