Farina: South Australian Ghost Town

Farina Ghost Town

Sitting in the vast, forgotten land of outback South Australia are traces left behind from a struggling community. Farina is a former farming and mining community turned ghost town, complete with a cemetery that details how harsh life in town must have been.

The town of Farina dates back to 1878 when it was founded by farmers. The land was believed to be fertile since heavy rains had just passed through the region. This was an unfortunate rare event and the lands turned out to be incredibly difficult to cultivate. Though both copper and silver mines in the area drew more people to the town of Farina, it only grew to a population of around 300. Farina was to see its demise after the Ghan rail line, which passed through the town, was extended to nearby Marree. This rendered Farina an obsolete stop and was the final nail in the coffin leading towards the town’s abandonment.

Though the town was built up with a church, brothel, breweries, police station and hospital it all was to be left behind, including its nearby cemetery. Now it sits to slowly deteriorate in the desert sun.

Is Farina Haunted?

Though the harsh existence the residents of Farina faced and the commonplace of death this humble ghost town saw, there remains little to be said of hauntings. Could the remote and rarely visited location hold more secrets than the nearly forgotten ghost town puts forth?

With little information available online I visited the town myself. the closest thing to a ghost story Farina holds is a story related to its cemetery. Here, in a far corner facing mecca exist the bodies of the early Afghan Camel Train workers who died in Farina. Along with them is a French lady known as Miriam Bebe, who had married Cool Mahomet. The pair were well liked and respected throughout the community. It is said that as all the other graves in the Farina Cemetery decayed, Miriam’s remained the one pristine and immaculately maintained grave. Though some doubt this was a paranormal event, no one truly knows who has been caring for this grave since 1939.

During our own investigation of the Farina Ghost Town Cemetery in the dead of night, we received some interesting activity. The most compelling of this being a small, invisible tug on the clothing of my camera person (Jarrad). We later moved our investigation over to the actual ghost town and gained some interesting responses over the spirit box (a paranormal investigation tool that sweeps radio stations allowing spirits to communicate). One of which said, ‘the big house’ after I asked what was this room used for.

Visiting South Australia’s Farina Ghost Town

Although it remains difficult to say whether Farina is truly haunted, it remains an interesting piece of South Australian history to visit. Currently, the only functioning building that is fully restored at the ghost town is an old underground bakery. This is open seasonally and I would definitely recommend dropping by to grab a bite if you are traveling along the Outback Highway. Further restoration efforts to save the town and its heritage are being undertaken and all proceeds raised by this volunteer bakery support these efforts. To get more intimate with the area, camp and caravan sites are available at Farina for a small fee.

If you are interested in reading about other South Australian haunts, I recommend checking out the Old Adelaide Gaol.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo