Ghosts of Gold

If it's quirky tales about ghostly characters you are after, then the Charters Towers ghosts of gold Heritage Trail is for you!  Our ghosts from our gold rush and their stories are told at four venues throughout the City.

  • Charters Towers Visitor Information Centre for your orientation of our Region and introduction to the One Square Mile
  • Stock Exchange Arcade for the Assay Mining Museum
  • Towers Hill Lookout by day and by night watch the ghosts after dark film
  • The Venus Gold Battery, the oldest stamp battery in Queensland.

All attractions for the ghosts of gold Heritage Trail are open 7 days (except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, News Years Day, Good Friday and half day on ANZAC Day). Tickets for all sites are available at the Charters Towers Visitor Information Centre.

Grandeur - One Square Mile

There are few historic city hearts as beautifully preserved as Charters Towers' One Square Mile. During the late 1800's, the money made on the Stock Exchange flowed into the civic improvements and a flourishing business community. The newly rich citizens built palatial homes and magnificent buildings and the town puffed out its chest with great civic pride. The elegance of our city heart is always a talking point for visitors. Best of all, this historic One Square Mile precinct is easily explored on foot using the Heritage Walking Map.

Greed - Stock Exchange

The arcade was designed by Sydney architect, Mark Day and built by the Sandbrook Brothers of Sydney in 1888. This prestigious shop and office arcade was built for local civic leader and businessman Alexander Malcolm.

Known then as the Royal Arcade, it housed the Charters Towers Stock Exchange from 1890. It was one of Australia's first few regional stock exchanges, and needed to raise capital for the deep reef mines throughout the Region.

The Stock Exchange was hooked into the world via telegraph, with three calls a day, six days a week.

The Arcade is a great open thoroughfare and it is easy to imagine the stockbrokers busy at work in their offices.

Gold - Towers Hill

An aboriginal horse boy named Jupiter first discovered gold at the foot of Towers Hill in 1872.

Since the discovery of gold the hill's three peaks have been subject to much use, such as a mining site, the early telegraph route to Cardwell passed overhead, and the valley below was used for ordinance storage during World War II.

Towers Hill Lookout also has many interesting and factual storyboards, so you can learn about the Region's colourful past whilst taking in the panoramic scenery of Charters Towers. It is a peaceful spot for an early morning or late afternoon walk and you may see some wildlife along the way. Towers Hill comes to life in the evening with a film screened in the Amphitheatre - called ghosts after dark.  As this film suggests, the ghosts of our past have a starring role.

Ghosts - The Venus Battery

Located on the outskirts of the city, the Venus Battery offers an insight into the City's incredible real-life gold rush of the late 19th century. The battery is of national cultural significance as the largest surviving battery relic in Australia and oldest surviving battery in Queensland.

Constructed in 1872, it was a public or custom mill in its heyday, and became a State Battery in 1919 to provide ore crushing facilities for small miners long after other mills had closed. It ceased commercial operations in 1973 after a century of service.

Guided tours are available daily at the battery, with one of the highlights being a holographic film presentation that shows the process of extracting gold from ore and the story of the battery's working life. Come and meet the ghost of Mr E.H.T Plant, who built the battery. He has some interesting tales to tell of some of the ghosts you may just meet at the other sites around town.

Ghosts of Gold Logo Rationale

Ghosts of gold brings to life the stories and legends of the characters that made Charters Towers, in its heyday, the second largest city in Queensland.

The trail explores the rich landscapes and colourful tales of the four G's; from the discovery of Gold at the foot of Towers Hill, the Grandeur of the historic One Square Mile, Greed in the hearts of those trying to win it big in the Stock Exchange Arcade and if you listen hard enough, you'll hear the Ghosts hard at work down at the Venus Battery.

So what exactly does the ghosts of gold logo mean?

This logo represents the four elements that convey the city's historical past:

ONE SQUARE MILE
The symbol's dotted area represents the grandeur and heritage significance within the One Square Mile.
STOCK EXCHANGE
The arch symbolises the vaulted arch and the grandness and splendour of the architecture of this magnificent building.
TOWERS HILL
The contours and various line layers reflect the hilltop landscape and also symbolises the depth of mining of Charters Towers.
THE VENUS BATTERY
This symbol represents the mechanical structure of the crushing machinery used at The Venus Battery.