marree photo essay

The small town of Marree, South

Australia (population 80 according to

the locals in the pub) lies at the

junction of the Birdsville and

Oodnadatta Tracks, 100km south of

Lake Eyre.

For a century Marree was a thriving rail town

with ten times its current population, servicing the

cattle industry as a major station along the

original Ghan Railway.

In 1980, the Ghan service to Alice Springs

was relocated, and the tracks out of Marree have

since been dismantled.

Relics of a purposeful past are littered

throughout the town, the desolation compounded

by the isolation. Signs out of town warn of

Remote Areas Ahead, and recommend travellers

carry two spare tyres and two jacks.

Far from a ghost town, on a Saturday night

the jukebox is working overtime and there’s a

friendly crowd around the pool table at The

Marree Hotel, the town’s only watering hole.

Marree, Outback South AustraliaSM KING

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