Kalbarri's Hidden and Abandoned Underground Gemstone Mine
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 01. 2022
- Cliff and Gwyn Ross started the Fantasyland tourist attraction, with Cliff collecting the rocks and gems as he traveled around the state and country. Cliff also started the pelican feeding in Kalbarri, which is still a popular attraction today.
Since it was Fantasyland it has been a number or restaurants and Cafes, The Grasstree, Black Rock, and now Pelly's Cafe. And all this time the gemstone mine has been sitting there unused and for most unknown.
From the Grasstree Website
In 1974 Cliff and Gwyn Ross began turning a 2 bedroom house into a doll museum. In August of 1976 it was officially opened as "The World of Little People"
Over the next 4 years a scale replica of Cliff's lead mine was created and with the opening of the mine exhibit in 1980 the name was changed to "Fantasyland"
Each morning Cliff would wonder across to the beach and discard his scraps from his morning fish. Over time the Pelicans began to realise that this happened at 8:45am every morning and has now become a popular tourist attraction with the feeding continued by local volunteers
Some Fantasyland memorabilia and websites (some interesting reading in these posts)
/ 10159607117985858
/ 3028987404054110
www.thegrasstree.com.au/pages/...
This mine and Fantasy Land was build by Cliff Ross and his wife Gwyn Ross. They built it from scratch and Cliff had enormous vision. My husband, Cliff and Gwyns son helped. I use to work in the museum and it saw thousands of people visit over the years. A lot of blood sweat and tears went into this amazing venue.
This was my pops place , he also started the pelican feeding as well
Amazing find. What a lot of work and effort went into setting up the rock display. Thank-you for finding and filming that snapshot of history.
We got to look through back in 2003. Tried to find it again on our last couple of trips up as we wanted to show the kids but couldn't remember what cafe it was attached too. Thanks
WOW, been to Kalbarri so many times over the years and never heard a word about this place.
It was a main attraction when I use to visit when I was a kid. Looked a bit out of place, but once you were inside it was full of interesting bits and pieces.
Amazing, I never knew that was there. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m there
Thank you so much for showing us this! I have never seen it always knew it was there, will be sharing on my Kalbarri pages for others, thanks!
No Problem, what's the link to your pages? I will take a look.
facebook.com/groups/984152922413688/?ref=share And facebook.com/everythingbeautifulkalbarri/
Intresting place
🙂
nice one mate, i vaguely remember this as a kid on our family xmas holidays to Kalbarri, i think there was a shell house near there as well, closer to the old pub with the boy peeing into the pond statue lol
Shell house was part of the museum. That’s all gone now.
I was up there on the 6/1/22 and your right didn’t know thanks and I’m into old bottles and rocks 👍👍👍👍🇦🇺
The mine will be closed, but if you ask I am sure they will show you the bottle collection.
Loved going here as a kid. Wonder if they still have the giant Mud Crab.
Now you mention it I remember that crab as well. I didn’t see it. They also have a tiny cray fish that was 12 months old. Showing how slowly they grow.
Not sure if the ABC saw my video and decided to do a mainstream story, or if they found out some other way. Maybe the Cafe owners are capitalising on it. Would be good to bring it back to life. The ABC story is here.
www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-26/fantasy-land-kalbarri-gem-mine-tourism-attraction/100849440
I see that this has made the ABC News today.
We were there only 2 weeks ago. Do they allow people down there? I saw this story just before going up, but there was no reference to it at Peli's so I didn't ask.
Hard to understand why they don't incorporate it into their business and make a little money and tourists to enjoy.
It dosent come up to code, and it was sealed off when these business owners took over the property. Plus a few other things like light, does not have an emergency Exit etc. But I think it has been considered.