Capertee Valley.

Emergency information.

If you plan to leave your vehicle or campsite for longer than 12 hours, 

please leave a note on the dashboard with the following details: 

your departure date, expected return date, car registration number, and your destination. 

This way, you can be reached, in case of an emergency, especially since mobile phones do not work in this area. 

😊

Click here for Bookings or more information on the Glen Davis Shale Works Ruins Saturday Tour.
Click here for Bookings or more information on Glen Davis Shale Works Ruins special Tour.
Front cover of Leonie Knapman’s book “Glen Davis in the blue mountains of New South Wales”. Subtitled Shale Oil Ghost town 1938-1954.
History of Glen Davis, 1938 – 1954.

This Book by Leonie Knapman, who lived at the site as a child. It sets out to document the buildings and people at the Glen Davis Oil Shale works. This was Australia's first attempt at producing petrol from Shale.

Purchase Book for $42, not including postage.

Historical journey in pictures of the Glen Davis Shale Works Project.

Turn on subtitles in youtube settings to see photo descriptions.

House of retorts in retort bench at Glen Davis Oil shale works ruins.
A screenshot of the front cover of National Oil Pty Ltd, auction sale book. It is brown cover with a single black line border. It is headed up with Federal Government coat of arms. Following this are the words under instructions of A. C. Joyce Esq. C.B.E. As receiver appointed by the Commonwealth of Australia. In the matter of National Oil Pty Ltd. Auction sale of Buildings Office Furniture etc. on the site of Glen Davis N.S.W. on Monday the 11th January, 1954 at 11a.m. F. R. Strange Pty Ltd, Auctioneers, 57 North George Street, Sydney. B.W. 6129 – 6902 Telegrams: Strangelim Sydney
1954 GD shale works auction catalogue.
Checkout photos of the original 1954 GD shale works auction catalogue.
Click Here to view the Auction Sale Catalogue.
Crown lands Auction sale sign for Glen Davis on Saturday, 12th March 1940. Auctioneers Richardson and Wrench. It had notes and terms of sale displayed on the sign. It also displayed Glen Davis town plan, designed by A Cooke of the State Works and Local Government department.
Brief Shale mining History.
  • Lots of refining history with Scots.

  • Shale oil was employing 1 of 1000 Australians by 1880 very substantial part of our economy at the time.

  • Used in heating, candles, machinery.

  • Retorting(heating) oil shale found in the mountains at Joadja, Hartley Vale, Torbane(near Mt Airly), Newnes and Timor near Murrarrundi plus other area around Australia.

  • Oil shale discovered in Capertee Valley in 1865.

 Why Shale mining for Petrol?

  • The Great depression.

  • European Migration policy.

  • World War II.

  • Increasing Popularity overseas.

Birds eye view of Glen Davis town. circa 1952
The Town had:

 11 substantial brick houses for staff, a staff hostel made of brick accommodating 30 junior   staff, 100 permanent and 50 'war-type' individually owned residences. a group of barracks   with accommodation and boarding for 120 single men, a commercial hotel with 25 rooms,   'Bag Town' of 250 mostly sub-standard dwellings (tents made of hessian bags), The school   had 260 pupils and 7 teachers. There was a post office, a bank and a police station, a   doctor, a pharmacist, three churches, a community centre, golf course, bowling green,   childrens’ playground, tennis courts, two general stores, a pharmacy, a garage, a 'saloon' (a   bar separate from the hotel), a barber shop, a hotel, a motion-picture theatre in the 'Bag   Town' and a bakery. At its peak, the population reached approximately 2000 with an   ambulance station, for two ambulances, that had been funded by the people of the town.

The Chain Reaction was set at the Glen Davis Shale Works!

Check out the Drone view of Glen Davis!

Pipeline track created by Commonwealth Oil Corporation

Music Video by Dakota East was filmed at Glen Davis Shale Works!

Tour of lookout over the Glen Davis Shale Works.