Once-bustling country towns losing people as industries, youth move away

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Country towns across Australia have been in steady decline for decades. But some, like Alpha in central Queensland are at risk of vanishing altogether.

Transcript

00:00The pub is mostly shut, the bakery doesn't open, and the butcher is up for sale.

00:08We were like, wow, this is just like a ghost town, but there is a lot to do once you're

00:13here.

00:14Known as the gateway to the west, the tiny town of Alpha is about five hours drive west

00:20of Rockhampton.

00:21Alana Lupton thought she'd check it out while travelling the country.

00:25Not just Alpha, in most of the towns that we've stopped in, it's like they're dying.

00:32Once a pastoral hub, the railway, sawmills and cattle industries kept families in town

00:38for generations.

00:39There are many country towns that sort of existed and then almost wiped off the map.

00:45Census data shows coastal areas have boomed in recent decades, while rural populations

00:50continue to dwindle, with some small towns losing up to a third of their residents.

00:55Survival depends on local industries.

00:58We need to be looking at a long-term industry to keep people out here.

01:02And I think one of those ways is to put the autonomy back to the local people.

01:07It was hoped big mining projects would help fuel employment.

01:11But more than a decade later, these projects are all but abandoned.

01:16We thought, well, it looked like when the mines were going to open here, we thought

01:19this would be good for the town, but then that didn't happen either, so I really don't

01:25know what's going to happen.

01:26If you have remote mining areas, you do tend to see more volatility in population numbers.

01:31You can often have waves of growth and then decline tied to mining cycles.

01:36This couple run the post office and opened the town's first coffee shop in 15 years.

01:43I think it's made a difference in terms of both how the community sees itself and how

01:49tourists view us.

01:50So they have something to stop for.

01:53Stopping for a coffee and helping a small town cling to survival.

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