We walked into the phosphate mine, and were transported to another world.

The mine was only operational during the first World War. Australia needed phosphate for both agriculture and to make explosives. However, the story goes the operators only started it to get government funding, as the mine had very little phosphate at all. When the war was over, they closed and backfilled the mine.

In the mine there are a few remnants of what it must have been like to work it in the bad old days. You could see that the mine was dug out by hand, from the pick marks on the walls.

The rails for the trolleys were still in place…

… As well as an old shovel.

All of this was buried until the mine was dug out and revamped in 1996 for the tourists.