Editing Ghost town (section)

==Around the world==
{{See also|List of ghost towns by country}}

===Africa===
[[File:Kolmanskop Ghost Town Buildings.jpg|thumb|[[Kolmanskop]], Namibia (2016); a ghost town since 1956]]
Wars and rebellions in some African countries have left many towns and villages deserted. Since 2003, when President [[François Bozizé]] came to power, thousands of citizens of the [[Central African Republic]] have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the escalating conflict between armed rebels and government troops. Villages accused of supporting the rebels, such as Beogombo Deux near [[Paoua]], are ransacked by government soldiers. Those who are not killed have no choice but to escape to refugee camps.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Mike | title=Deserted villages and abandoned lives | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7779000/7779890.stm |work=BBC News |date=15 December 2008 |access-date=18 December 2008}}</ref> The instability in the region also leaves organized and well-equipped bandits free to terrorize the populace, often leaving villages abandoned in their wake.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Mike | title=Massacre haunts CAR villagers | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7788626.stm |work=BBC News |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=18 December 2008}}</ref> Elsewhere in Africa, the town of [[Lukangol]] was burnt to the ground during [[South Sudan internal conflict (2011–present)|tribal clashes in South Sudan]]. Before its destruction, the town had a population of 20,000.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16377824 |title=South Sudan 'sends more troops' to strife-torn town Pibor |date=1 January 2012|access-date= 1 January 2012|work=BBC News}}</ref> The [[Libya]]n town of [[Tawergha]] had a population of around 25,000 before it was abandoned during the [[Libyan Civil War (2011)|2011 civil war]], and it has remained empty since.

Many of the ghost towns in mineral-rich Africa are former mining towns. Shortly after the start of the 1908 [[diamond rush]] in [[German South-West Africa]], now known as [[Namibia]], the German Imperial government claimed sole mining rights by creating the {{lang|de|[[Sperrgebiet]]}} ("forbidden zone"),<ref name="Handbook">{{cite book|year=2001|title=Namibia Handbook: The Travel Guide <!-- access-date=24 May 2008 (deprecated) -->
|publisher=[[Footprint Travel Guides|Footprint Handbooks]]|isbn=1-900949-91-1|last1=Santcross|first1=Nick|last2=Ballard|first2=Sebastian|last3=Baker|first3=Gordon}}</ref> effectively criminalizing new settlement. The small mining towns of this area, among them [[Pomona, Namibia|Pomona]], [[Elizabeth Bay, Namibia|Elizabeth Bay]] and [[Kolmanskop]], were exempt from this ban, but the denial of new land claims soon rendered all of them ghost towns.

===Asia===
[[File:Chenggong, Kunming, Yunnan province.jpg|thumb|Unoccupied residential complexes in the [[Chenggong District]], Kunming, China]]
The town of [[Dhanushkodi]], India is a ghost town. It was destroyed during the [[1964 Rameswaram cyclone]] and remains uninhabited in the aftermath.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Did you know? Dhanushkodi is the place where you can see the origin of the Ram Setu!|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/travel/destinations/story/dhanushkodi-ram-setu-adams-bridge-rameshwaram-tamil-nadu-travel-india-tourism-lifetr-343293-2016-09-26|last=Duttagupta|first=Samonway|website=India Today|date=26 September 2016 |language=en|access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref>

Many abandoned towns and settlements in the former [[Soviet Union]] were established near [[Gulag]] labour camps to supply necessary services. Since most of these camps were abandoned in the 1950s, the towns were abandoned as well. One such town is located near the former Gulag camp called [[Butugychag]] (also called Lower Butugychag). Other towns were deserted due to deindustrialisation and the economic crises of the early 1990s attributed to [[post-Soviet conflicts]] – one example being [[Tkvarcheli]] in Georgia, a [[coal mining]] town that suffered a drastic population decline as a result of the [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)|War in Abkhazia]] in the early 1990s and [[Aghdam]], made ruined and uninhabited after the [[First Nagorno-Karabakh War]].

Although in 2010s Chinese [[Underoccupied developments in China|ghost cities]] became a frequent feature of discourse regarding [[Economy of China|China's economy]] and [[Urbanization in China|urbanization]], underoccupied cities filled up.<ref name=":102">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kerry |title=China Incorporated: The Politics of a World Where China is Number One |date=2023 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1-350-26724-4 |location=London |author-link=Kerry Brown (historian)}}</ref>{{Rp|page=151}} Writing in 2023, academic and former UK diplomat [[Kerry Brown (historian)|Kerry Brown]] described the idea of Chinese ghost cities as a popular bandwagon which was shown to be a myth.<ref name=":102" />{{Rp|page=151–152}}

The town of [[Namie, Fukushima|Namie]], along with several other towns in [[Fukushima Prefecture]], Japan, was temporarily evacuated as a result of the [[Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster]] following the [[2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami]]. Following ongoing decontamination works, several portions of Namie have been fully reopened to residents, allowing reconstruction and renovation of the town's buildings to be undertaken and resettlement of the area to take place.<ref>{{cite web | last=Pearce | first=Fred | title=A nuclear ghost town in Japan welcomes back residents this week | website=New Scientist | date=March 27, 2017 | url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2125805-a-nuclear-ghost-town-in-japan-welcomes-back-residents-this-week/ | access-date=May 19, 2023}}</ref>

===Europe===
[[File:Oradour-sur-Glane-Streets-1294.jpg|thumb|Main street of [[Oradour-sur-Glane]], France, unchanged since the German massacre]]
[[File:Jussarö building1.jpg|thumb|Abandoned mining building on the [[Jussarö]] island in [[Ekenäs, Finland|Ekenäs]], Raseborg, Finland]]
[[File:Заброшенная деревня Кривец.jpg|thumb|The forest occupies the territory of the village of {{ill|Krivets, Arkhangelsk Oblast|lt=Krivets|RU|Кривец (Архангельская область)}}, deserted by urbanization. [[Arkhangelsk Oblast]], Russia]]
[[Urbanization]] – the migration of a country's rural population into the cities – has left many European towns and villages deserted. An increasing number of settlements in Bulgaria are becoming ghost towns for this reason; at the time of the 2011 census, the country had 181 uninhabited settlements.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://sofiaecho.com/2011/07/21/1126999_bulgarias-population-is-73-million-official-2011-census-results |title=Bulgaria's population is 7.3 million – official 2011 census results |newspaper=The Sofia Echo |date=21 July 2011 |access-date=21 August 2012 |archive-date=8 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208224710/http://sofiaecho.com/2011/07/21/1126999_bulgarias-population-is-73-million-official-2011-census-results |url-status=dead }}</ref> In Hungary, dozens of villages are also threatened with abandonment. The first village officially declared as "dead" was {{interlanguage link|Gyűrűfű|hu}} in the late 1970s, but later it was repopulated as an [[eco-village]]. Some other depopulated villages were successfully saved as small rural resorts, such as [[Kán, Hungary|Kán]], [[Tornakápolna]], [[Szanticska]], [[Gorica, Hungary|Gorica]], and [[Révfalu]].

In Spain, large zones of the mountainous [[Iberian System]] and the [[Pyrenees]] have undergone heavy depopulation since the early 20th century, leaving a string of ghost towns in areas such as the [[Solana Valley]]. Traditional agricultural practices such as sheep and goat rearing, on which the mountain village economy was based, were not taken over by the local youth, especially after the lifestyle changes that swept over rural Spain during the second half of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diariodeteruel.net/comarcas/30412-sos-mundo-rural-aragones-alerta-de-la-despoblacion-de-los-pueblos.html |title=Sos Mundo Rural Aragonés alerta de la despoblación de los pueblos |publisher=Diario de Teruel |language=es |date=12 March 2013 |access-date=11 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315150215/http://www.diariodeteruel.net/comarcas/30412-sos-mundo-rural-aragones-alerta-de-la-despoblacion-de-los-pueblos.html |archive-date=15 March 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Examples of ghost towns in Italy include the medieval village of [[Fabbriche di Careggine]] near [[Lago di Vagli]], in [[province of Lucca]], in [[Tuscany]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italyundiscovered.com/2015/06/14/lake-of-vagli/|title=Lake of Vagli|work=Italy Undiscovered|date=14 June 2015|access-date=17 February 2021|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129010046/http://www.italyundiscovered.com/2015/06/14/lake-of-vagli/|url-status=dead}}</ref> the deserted mountain village of [[Craco]], located in [[Basilicata]], which has served as a filming location,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.visititaly.eu/places-and-tours/craco-the-ghost-town-jewel-of-basilicata|title=Craco, the Ghost Town jewel of Basilicata|website=visititaly.eu|access-date=17 February 2021}}</ref> and the ghost village of Roveraia, in the municipality of [[Loro Ciuffenna]], in [[province of Arezzo]], situated near Pratovalle.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Fanti |first=Marco |date=29 July 2023 |title=Tomba di Rinaldo Mori al Cimitero di Pratovalle e Roveraia – Loro Ciuffenna (AR) |url=https://www.pietredellamemoria.it/pietre/tomba-di-rinaldo-mori-al-cimitero-di-pratovalle-e-roveraia-loro-ciuffenna-ar/ |url-status=live |access-date=14 April 2025 |website=Pietre della Memoria |publisher=Associazione fra Mutilati ed Invalidi di Guerra |language=it}}</ref> The presence of the village is attested since the Middle Ages, when there was a tower.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Piano territoriale paesistico della provincia di Arezzo – Pratomagno: valle dell'Agna |url=https://pianificazioneterritoriale.provincia.arezzo.it/wp-content/uploads/PTCP/QC_16_SCHEDE/QC_16a_unita_paesaggio/AP_0913.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Provincia di Arezzo - Pianificazione Territoriale |publisher=Provincia di Arezzo |pages=1–2 |language=it}}</ref> During [[World War II]] it was an important partisan base<ref>{{Cite web |last=Irdani |first=David |date=24 April 2010 |title=Rappresaglie di San Giustino |url=https://resistenzatoscana.org/storie/rappresaglie_di_san_giustino/ |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Resistenza Toscana |publisher=Federazione Regionale Toscana delle Associazioni Antifasciste e della Resistenza |language=it}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> and it was abandoned between the 1960s and the 1980s, when the last family who lived here left the village.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fanti |first=Marco |date=4 April 2020 |title=Parco della Rimembranza ai Caduti di Pratovalle e Roveraia nella Grande Guerra |url=https://www.pietredellamemoria.it/pietre/monumento-ai-caduti-di-pratovalle-nella-grande-guerra/ |url-status=live |access-date=15 April 2025 |website=Pietre della Memoria |publisher=Associazione fra Mutilati ed Invalidi di Guerra |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Centrone |first=Daniel |date=November 2024 |title=Sentieri partigiani sul Pratomagno |url=https://www.toscananovecento.it/custom_type/sentieri-partigiani-sul-pratomagno/ |url-status=live |access-date=29 March 2025 |website=ToscanaNovecento. Portale di Storia Contemporanea |publisher=Regione Toscana |language=it}}</ref> Two projects have been proposed for the recovery of the village: in 2011 the proposal of Movimento Libero Perseo "Roveraia eco - lab", based on sustainability,<ref>{{cite web |title=Il Progetto delle Funzioni |url=https://it.scribd.com/document/67728479/Il-Progetto-Delle-Funzioni |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Scribd |publisher=Movimento Libero Perseo |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Roveraia eco - lab |url=https://vimeo.com/13408245 |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Vimeo |publisher=Movimento Libero Perseo |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=7 March 2012 |title=Roveraia. Un progetto ecosostenibile di tutta eccellenza |url=http://sito2012.blogspot.com/2012/03/roveraia-un-progetto-ecosostenibile-di.html |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=L'Evidenziatore del Web |language=it}}</ref> and in 2019 there was a proposal aiming to recover the village with a mix of functions called "Ecomuseum of Pratomagno".<ref>{{cite web |date=13 July 2021 |title=Ecomuseo del Pratomagno |url=https://issuu.com/dida-unifi/docs/ecomuseo_del_pratomagno_emma_amidei |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Issuu |publisher=DIDA - Department of architecture, University of Florence |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Amidei |first=Emma |date=14 January 2021 |title=Portfolio di architettura |url=https://issuu.com/emmaamidei/docs/portfolio_amidei |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Issuu |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Amidei |first=Emma |date=10 October 2020 |title=Architecture Portfolio |url=https://issuu.com/emmaamidei/docs/portfolio_amidei_0409c0677fe129 |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=Issuu}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=1 March 2021 |title=Ecomuseum of Pratomagno |url=https://www.koozarch.com/interviews/ecomuseum-of-pratomagno/ |url-status=live |access-date=20 April 2025 |website=KooZA/rch}}</ref>
[[File:Roveraia.jpg|thumb|Ghost village of Roveraia]]

In the United Kingdom, thousands of villages were abandoned during the Middle Ages, as a result of [[Black Death]], revolts, and [[enclosure]], the process by which vast amounts of farmland became privately owned. Since there are rarely any visible remains of these settlements, they are not generally considered ghost towns; instead, they are referred to in archaeological circles as [[deserted medieval village]]s.

Sometimes, wars and genocide end a town's life. In 1944, occupying German ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' troops murdered almost the entire population of the French village [[Oradour-sur-Glane]]. A new settlement was built nearby after the war, but the old town was left depopulated on the orders of President [[Charles de Gaulle]], as a permanent memorial. In Germany, numerous smaller towns and villages in the [[former eastern territories of Germany|former eastern territories]] were completely destroyed in the last two years of the war. These territories later became part of Poland and the [[Soviet Union]], and many of the smaller settlements were never rebuilt or repopulated, for example [[Kłomino]] (''Westfalenhof''), [[Pstrąże]] (''Pstransse''), and [[Janowa Góra]] (''Johannesberg''). Some villages in England were also abandoned during the war, but for different reasons. [[Imber]], on [[Salisbury Plain]], and several villages in the [[Stanford Battle Area]], were commandeered by the [[War Office]] for use as training grounds for British and US troops. Although this was intended to be a temporary measure, the residents were never allowed to return, and the villages have been used for military training ever since. {{Convert|3|mi|0|abbr=out|spell=In|disp=or}} southeast of Imber is [[Copehill Down]], a deserted village purpose-built for training in [[urban warfare]].

Disasters & natural disasters have played a part in the abandonment of settlements within Europe. Two examples are [[Pripyat]] and [[Chernobyl]]. After the [[Chernobyl disaster]] of 1986, both cities were evacuated due to dangerous radiation levels within the area. As of today, Pripyat remains completely abandoned, and Chernobyl has around 500 remaining inhabitants. Another example is [[Todoque]] in the Canary Islands, Spain. During the [[2021 Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption]], the locality was severely affected. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed, including the parish Church of Saint Pius X, the health center, the headquarters of the neighborhood association, the School of Early Childhood Education, and Los Campitos Elementary School and the Todoque Elementary and the Infant Education School, and by October 10, new lava flows destroyed the remaining buildings that were still standing, leaving the town practically erased from the map.

An example in the UK of a ghost village which was abandoned before it was ever occupied is at [[Polphail]], [[Argyll and Bute]]. The planned development of an oil rig construction facility nearby never materialised, and a village built to house the workers and their families became deserted the moment the building contractors finished their work.

===North America===
[[File:RobsartHospital.jpg|thumb|[[Robsart Hospital]], one of many abandoned buildings in [[Robsart, Saskatchewan]]]]

====Canada====
{{See also|Lists of ghost towns in Canada}}
[[Canada]] has several ghost towns in parts of [[British Columbia]], [[Alberta]], [[Ontario]], [[Saskatchewan]], [[Newfoundland and Labrador]], and [[Quebec]]. Some were logging towns or dual mining and logging sites, often [[company town|developed at the behest of the company]]. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, most ghost towns were once farming communities that have since died off due to the removal of the railway through the town or the bypass of a highway. The ghost towns in British Columbia were predominantly mining towns and prospecting camps as well as canneries and, in one or two cases, large smelter and pulp mill towns. British Columbia has more ghost towns than any other jurisdiction on the North American continent, with more than 1,500 abandoned or semi-abandoned towns and localities.<ref>Ramsey, Bruce (1963–1975). ''Ghost Towns of British Columbia". Vancouver: Mitchell Press.</ref> Among the most notable are [[Anyox]], [[Kitsault]], and [[Ocean Falls]].

Some ghost towns have revived their economies and populations due to historical and eco-tourism, such as [[Barkerville, British Columbia|Barkerville]]; once the largest town north of [[Kamloops]], it is now a year-round provincial museum. In Quebec, [[Val-Jalbert, Quebec|Val-Jalbert]] is a well-known tourist ghost town; founded in 1901 around a mechanical [[pulp mill]] that became obsolete when [[paper mill]]s began to break down [[wood fibre]] by chemical means, it was abandoned when the mill closed in 1927 and re-opened as a park in 1960.
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====Mexico====
A former mining town in Mexico, [[Real de Catorce]], has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood movies such as ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'' (1948),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Barlow|first=Maude|date=November 11, 2012 |title=Update: Barlow in Mexico (days six to eight) |url=https://canadians.org/analysis/update-barlow-mexico-days-six-eight|website=The Council of Canadians |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230000620/https://canadians.org/analysis/update-barlow-mexico-days-six-eight/ |archive-date= Dec 30, 2023 }}</ref> ''[[The Mexican]]'' (2001), and ''[[Bandidas]]'' (2006).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bandidas (2006) - Filming & production |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416496/locations|website=IMDb |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521235126/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416496/locations/ |archive-date= May 21, 2023 }}</ref>

====United States====
{{See also|Lists of ghost towns in the United States}}
[[File:A363, Rhyolite, Nevada, USA, John S Cook and Company building, 2004.jpg|thumb|Cook Bank building in [[Rhyolite, Nevada]], a gold mining town]]
Many ghost towns or abandoned [[unincorporated area|communities]] exist in the American [[Great Plains]], the rural areas of which have lost a third of their population since 1920. Thousands of communities in the northern plains states of [[Montana]], [[Nebraska]], [[North Dakota]], and [[South Dakota]] became railroad ghost towns when a rail line failed to materialize. Hundreds of towns were abandoned as the [[Interstate highway system]] replaced the railroads as the favored means of transportation. Ghost towns are common in mining or [[mill town]]s in all the western states, and many eastern and southern states as well. Residents are compelled to leave in search of more productive areas when the resources that had created an employment boom in these towns were eventually exhausted.

Sometimes a ghost town consists of many abandoned buildings as in [[Bodie, California]], or standing ruins as in [[Rhyolite, Nevada]], while elsewhere only the foundations of former buildings remain as in [[Graysonia, Arkansas]]. Old mining camps that have lost most of their population at some stage of their history such as [[Aspen, Colorado|Aspen]], [[Deadwood, South Dakota|Deadwood]], [[Oatman, Arizona|Oatman]], [[Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone]] and [[Virginia City, Montana|Virginia City]] are sometimes referred to as ghost towns although they are presently active towns and cities.{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} Many U.S. ghost towns, such as [[South Pass City, Wyoming|South Pass City in Wyoming]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>Weis, Norman D. (1971). Ghost Towns of the Northwest. Caldwell, Idaho, USA: Caxton Press. {{ISBN|0-87004-358-7}}.</ref><ref name=nris>{{NRISref|2009a|dateform=dmy}}</ref>

[[File:Wickenburg Vulture Mine-Assay office-1884-1.jpg|thumb|1884 [[assay office]] in [[Vulture City, Arizona]], a gold mining town]]

Starting in 2002, an attempt to declare an official ghost town in California stalled when the adherents of the town of [[Bodie, California|Bodie]] and those of [[Calico, San Bernardino County, California|Calico]], in [[Southern California]], could not agree on the most deserving settlement for the recognition. A compromise was eventually reached—Bodie became the official state [[gold rush]] ghost town, while Calico was named the official state [[silver rush]] ghost town.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/towns/ca_gold_rush_ghost_town.htm |title=California State Gold Rush Ghost Town |publisher=NetState |access-date=28 December 2011}}</ref>

===South America===
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a wave of European immigrants arrived in Brazil and settled in the cities, which offered jobs, education, and other opportunities that enabled newcomers to enter the middle class. Many also settled in the growing small towns along the expanding railway system. Since the 1930s, many rural workers have moved to the big cities. Other ghost towns were created in the aftermath of dinosaur fossil rushes.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Baraniuk|first=Chris|date=15 July 2016|title=The ghost towns that were created by the oil rush|work=BBC|url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160715-the-ghost-towns-left-by-oil-booms-and-busts |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521233125/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160715-the-ghost-towns-left-by-oil-booms-and-busts |archive-date= May 21, 2023 }}</ref>

In [[Colombia]], a [[Armero tragedy|volcano erupted]] in 1985, where the city of Armero was engulfed by lahars, which killed approximately 23,000 people in total.<ref>{{cite web |title=Benchmarks: November 13, 1985: Nevado del Ruiz eruption triggers deadly lahars |url=https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/benchmarks-november-13-1985-nevado-del-ruiz-eruption-triggers-deadly-lahars |first1=Bethany |last1=Augliere |date=October 20, 2016 |website=Earth Magazine |publisher=American Geosciences Institute |access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref> Armero was never rebuilt (its inhabitants being diverted to nearby cities, and thus becoming a ghost town), but still stands today as "holy land", as dictated by [[Pope John Paul II]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zeiderman|first=Austin|title=Life at Risk: Biopolitics, Citizenship, and Security in Colombia|publisher=Congress of the Latin American Studies Association|year=2009|pages=12|citeseerx=10.1.1.509.6961}}</ref>

A number of ghost towns throughout South America were once mining camps or lumber mills, such as the many [[sodium nitrate|saltpeter]] mining camps that prospered in Chile from the end of the [[War of the Pacific|Saltpeter War]] until the invention of synthetic saltpeter during World War I. Some of these towns, such as the [[Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works]] in the [[Atacama Desert]], have been declared [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1178/|website=whc.unesco.org|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref>

===Oceania===
[[File:Ruins at Farina.JPG|thumb|After many years of drought and dust storms, the town of [[Farina, South Australia]], was abandoned.]]
The boom and bust of gold rushes and the mining of other ores has led to a number of ghost towns in both Australia and New Zealand. Other towns have become abandoned whether due to natural disasters, the weather, or the drowning of valleys to increase the size of lakes.

In Australia, the [[Victoria gold rush]] led to numerous ghost towns (such as [[Cassilis, Victoria|Cassilis]] and [[Moliagul]]), as did the hunt for gold in [[Western Australia]] (for example, the towns of [[Ora Banda]] and [[Kanowna, Western Australia|Kanowna]]). The mining of iron and other ores has also led to towns thriving briefly before dwindling. The town of [[Wittenoom, Western Australia|Wittenoom]] was abandoned and demolished due to the health hazards posed by [[asbestos]] mining in the area.

In New Zealand, the [[Otago gold rush]] similarly led to several ghost towns (such as [[Macetown]]). New Zealand's ghost towns also include numerous coal mining areas in the South Island's [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast Region]], including [[Denniston, New Zealand|Denniston]] and [[Stockton, New Zealand|Stockton]]. Natural disasters have also led to the loss of some towns, notably [[Te Wairoa (village)|Te Wairoa]], "The Buried Village", destroyed in the [[1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera]], and the Otago town of [[Kelso, New Zealand|Kelso]], abandoned after it was flooded repeatedly after heavy rainstorms. Early settlements on the rugged southwest coast of the South Island at [[Martins Bay]] and [[Port Craig]] were also abandoned, mainly due to the inhospitable terrain.

===Antarctica===

[[File:Deception-Base.jpg|thumb|The derelict British base in Whalers Bay, [[Deception Island]], destroyed by a volcanic eruption]]

The oldest ghost town in [[Antarctica]] is on [[Deception Island]], where in 1906, a Norwegian-Chilean company set up a whaling station at Whalers Bay, which they used as a base for their factory ship, the ''Gobernador Bories''. Other whaling operations followed suit, and by 1914 there were thirteen factory ships based there. The station ceased to be profitable during the [[Great Depression]], and was abandoned in 1931. In 1969, the station was partially destroyed by a volcanic eruption. There are also many abandoned scientific and military bases in Antarctica, especially in the [[Antarctic Peninsula]].

The Antarctic island of [[South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands|South Georgia]] used to have several thriving whaling settlements during the first half of the 20th century, with a combined population exceeding 2,000 in some years. These included [[Grytviken]] (operating 1904–64), [[Leith Harbour]] (1909–65), [[Ocean Harbour]] (1909–20), [[Husvik]] (1910–60), [[Stromness (South Georgia)|Stromness]] (1912–61) and [[Prince Olav Harbour]] (1917–34). The abandoned settlements have become increasingly dilapidated and remain uninhabited nowadays except for the Museum curator's family at [[Grytviken]]. The jetty, the church, dwellings, and industrial buildings at [[Grytviken]] have recently been renovated by the South Georgian Government, becoming a popular tourist destination. Some historical buildings in the other settlements are being restored as well.