Grove Hill is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Once a centre for mining operations, today only a hotel with a few outbuildings survive. Grove Hill is located within the

Victoria Daly Region The Victoria Daly Regional Council is a Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory, local government area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The shire covers an area of and had a population of 3,138 in June 2018. History In October ...

and for administrative purposes is considered to be part of the locality of Burrundie. Both the defunct

North Australia Railway The North Australia Railway was a narrow gauge railway in the Northern Territory of Australia which ran from the territory capital of Darwin, once known as Palmerston, to Birdum, just south of Larrimah. Initially its name was the ''Palmerst ...

and the modern Adelaide–Darwin railway pass through Grove Hill.

History

Settlement of Grove Hill began after the discovery of gold by prospector Harry Roberts in 1872 during construction of the

Overland Telegraph The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was an electrical telegraph system for sending messages the between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Completed in 1872 (with a li ...

. A stamping battery became operational on 6 June 1887 and was used to crush stone from surrounding mines. Grove Hill was formerly a siding on the North Australia Railway where a 2 ft gauge steam tramway some 12 miles in length was constructed in 1904 to connect the nearby Mount Ellison and Iron Blow mines met the main line, with a dual gauge section allowing main line wagons to be hauled to the private smelting works. The Iron Blow mine, located south of the siding produced

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

until its abandonment in 1914. The area surrounding the mine was surveyed by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

in 1960 after reports that there remained 33,000 tons of mineral

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

available for extraction. Prior to 1935, a township and miners camp had thrived approximately south of the railway line. As the gold rush was ending, this settlement was abandoned and a hotel constructed near the railway sidings to take advantage of new business opportunities brought by travelers passing through the area. The remains of the settlement were further isolated in by the closure of the railway line in 1976 and was bypassed by the

Stuart Highway Stuart Highway is a major Australian highway. It runs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta in South Australia; it has a distance of . Its northern and souther ...

when it was upgraded to National Highway standard between 1970 and 1992, passing , with the former road alignment now forming part of the Northern Goldfields Loop tourist drive.

Grove Hill Hotel

The Grove Hill Hotel was built in 1934 from materials scavenged from abandoned mining sites in the aftermath of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. It remained operating as a licensed hotel until 2018 and also incorporated a heritage museum displaying historical artifacts from the local area. The hotel was renowned for

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

nearby. The hotel was listed in the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the '' Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained ...

on 2 November 1994. The historic hotel was listed for sale by auction on 12 July 2012 with a reserve price of $760,000, attracting widespread media coverage. In November 2016, after falling to attract a serious buyer the hotel announced it would close, however it reopened a few months later in response to community support and an extension of its liquor licence. Following a decline in business and the owner's retirement, the Grove Hill Hotel closed once again in October 2018 and has not been open to the public since.

References

{{reflist Mining in the Northern Territory Abandoned settlements in the Northern Territory History of the Northern Territory Ghost towns in the Northern Territory Victoria Daly Region

History

Grove Hill Hotel

See also

References