Olary

Wilyakali Country

Oolarie was established in the late 1880s as a service centre for the new railway and was officially named Olary in 1896. The town grew with the discovery of minerals within the Olary Ranges but declined as individual mines failed and closed.

Nearby Radium Hill was also a boon for the town as one of the earliest uranium discoveries in Australia but this ended with the closure of the mine and the town in 1961. Little remains of the town, however, artefacts from Radium Hill can still be viewed at Steamtown in Peterborough.

Olary Hotel.
Photo: Courtesy Christeen Schoepf.