Old Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine Tour

A 4-hour interpretive tour

Discovered in 1954 by Norm McConachy and Clem Walton, the Mary Kathleen uranium mine and township were officially opened in October 1958 by Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia, and Frank Nicklin, Premier of Queensland.

In its heyday the township was home to 1,000 people and sat 6 km from the working mine. It had everything a town that size needed: a post office, school, cinema, banks, hospital, supermarkets, swimming pool, sports grounds, orchards and more.

The uranium was exhausted by 1981 and the mine closed. Today you can still see the concrete slabs where the buildings stood, the remnants of the town’s layout, and the mine itself. And if you listen carefully, you may hear the distant voices of the residents weaving through the trees on the breeze.

Highlights

• The township site — concrete slabs, kerbs and street layout still legible
• The open pit, flooded and banded with colour
• The 1954 discovery and the 1958 opening by Menzies and Nicklin
• How a town of 1,000 people lived 6 km from the mine
• Afternoon tea on the way back