The historic Queensland Outback gold town, Charters Towers, recently launched its new tourism experience, Charters Towers: Ghosts of Gold. More than 130 years after the State’s momentous gold rush, Charters Towers has revived its golden mining era creating a ‘whole of town’ tourism experience for modern day visitors.
‘Ghosts of Gold’ is one of the newest attractions to open as part of the $110 million Queensland Heritage Trails Network, which links together authentic heritage experiences in mainly regional Queensland.
Once the second largest city in Queensland, Charters Towers hosted a series of community events to launch ‘Ghosts of Gold’. This included an official launch on June 28 at the new Visitor Information and Orientation Centre by Senator Ian Macdonald, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, and the Member for Charters Towers, Christine Scott.
Leeading up to the official opening, Charters Towers City Council hosted an elegant dinner under the soaring ceiling of the historic Stock Exchange Arcade, the former site of one of Australia’s only regional stock exchanges. The evening’s highlight saw Charters Towers’ ‘Ghosts of Gold’ come to life with a ‘ghostly’ parade of former Charters Towers’ residents from the gold rush era.
The $2.5 million project incorporates the new Visitor Information and Orientation Centre, with interactive displays including an audio visual presentation of how the world came to Charters Towers after the discovery of gold.
The newly restored Venus Battery, the largest surviving gold battery relic in Australia, features displays explaining how the battery was used to extract gold, and a film projected on a spectacular water screen tells the stories of the ‘Ghosts of Gold’. The Stock Exchange Arcade features an interactive display where visitors can hear the ‘ghostly’ voices of the once vibrant trading floor, and there are plans to show a nightly film at Towers Hill.
For more information, contact the Charters Towers Visitor Information and Orientation Centre on (07) 4752 0314.
