Farina Ruins

Farina Ruins is a heritage-listed ghost town on the Oodnadatta Track in South Australia's Far North, about 26 km south of Marree and 600 km north of Adelaide. Established in 1878 as Government Gums and renamed Farina in 1882, it was an agricultural and railway settlement abandoned by the 1960s. Today stone ruins, restored buildings and an underground bakery are conserved by the Farina Restoration Group.

Visitors can explore an open-air ghost town site with extensive stone ruins of houses, hotels, churches, a former railway station, police station and cemetery set in arid gibber plain. Interpretive signs explain the town layout. The restored underground bakery operates seasonally (May-August) when volunteers are on site, and a marked walking trail links ruins. The surrounding landscape is flat, dry and remote with camping areas nearby.

Founded in 1878 as Government Gums to support wheat farming on the edge of the desert, renamed Farina in 1882. The town grew with the arrival of the Central Australia Railway in 1882-1884, reaching a peak population of about 300 with hotels, churches, schools and stores. Repeated droughts and crop failures led to decline, and the town was largely abandoned by the 1960s, leaving stone ruins now conserved as a heritage site.

Represents a significant example of late 19th-century agricultural settlement attempts in arid Australia and the role of the Central Australia Railway in outback development. Conserved and interpreted by the volunteer Farina Restoration Group, it serves as a cultural heritage attraction illustrating pioneer life on the Oodnadatta Track.