RV TRAVEL
Aerial view of the old Waukaringa Hotel.
The township was proclaimed in 1888 where a population of nearly 500 was driven by the local goldfields. Today, the massive, crumbling ruins have multiple rooms on ground level. The underground cellars can be seen and the building has three huge chimneys, which would have been used during the cooler months for heating and for cooking. There are other ruins in the surrounding area, like smaller walls, huge bricked pits perhaps used for underground storage, and a large amount of metal materials, like vehicle wrecks, large square water drums, thick metal plates and so much more.
The town of Waukaringa was built following the discovery of nearby gold-bearing reefs in 1873 by James Watson, a shepherd on a local pastoral run. Originally, there was chatter that it would be perfectly useless to search for gold in that direction to the north. At the time, gold was being freely found more to the west at Kooringa, where the gold could be seen in the quartz and ironstone, so Waukaringa developed very slowly over a number of years. But it was to become one of the longest lasting goldfields in South Australia.
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