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| World Ghost Towns |
Located in Deception Island, the oldest ghost town in Antarctica was found in 1906 by a Norwegian-Chilean whaling company that started using Whalers Bay as a base for a factory ship, the Gobernador Bories.
Also Antarctica has many more-recently abandoned scientific and military bases, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula.
South Georgia, the Antarctic island, used to have several thriving whaling settlements during the first half of the 20th century, with a combined population exceeding 2,000 in some years. The towns were called Grytviken, Leith Harbour, Ocean Harbour, Husvik, Stromness, and Prince Olav Harbour. Grytviken jetty, the church, and dwelling and industrial buildings have recently been renovated by the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, becoming a popular tourist destination. A number of historical buildings in the other settlements are being restored too.
Most ghost towns in Australia were usually formed after the end of mining operations or the removal of railway services. The ghost towns in Australia include Cassilis in Victoria, Farina in the far north of South Australia, Newnes in New South Wales, and Goldsworthy, Cossack, Wittenoom in Western Australia.
In 1260, the Swedish town Sjöstad, in Närke, became a ghost town, when the town's 700 merchants had crossed the ice of Lake Vättern and been cut down by the Danes. Sjöstadwas never resettled.
In the United Kingdom, the villages of Imber on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire and Tyneham near Dorset's historic Jurassic Coast, as well as several villages within the Stanford Battle Area in Norfolk, were evacuated by the British Army, and the abandoned buildings are now used for training exercises.
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