For sale: One collapsed ghost town

Receivers from accounting and insolvency firm PKF will next week auction one of the more unusual businesses to collapse in the last few years – a ghost town located in rural New South Wales.

Joadja Whiskey Company, which collapsed into receivership in last October, was the owner of the heritage-listed town of Joadja, which is located near the town of Bowral, about one-and-a-half hours from Sydney.

The town was a thriving centre between 1870 and 1911, when it had a population of about 1,100 people. Most of them were Scottish migrants skilled in mining shale oil, which they then processed into kerosene.

After the process of using shale for kerosene was superseded by more modern production techniques, the town became deserted.

Since then, a number of businesses have attempted to establish the town as an historic tourist centre, the site for a boutique brewery and, more recently, the proposed location for an eco resort.

However, the current owners, the Joadja Whiskey Company collapsed after falling into default on their loans with their lender Bankwest and the business was subsequently placed in the hands of Trent Devine and John Lord from PKF.

Devine told SmartCompany this morning that it was one of the more unusual matters he had worked on.

“Anything with heritage listing is very unique [but] everyone’s been interested in the approach to try and realise these assets.”

The receivers will auction six individual lots on March 23. One large lot includes the historic homestead and town buildings, there are four smaller lots suitable build to a house on and a final lot that is large enough to be subdivided.

Devine says there has been interest in the parcels, but declined to say whether the buyers were interested in keeping the historic township going as a tourist destination.

The auction, which will be held Sydney, is being run by real estate company Colliers.