South Australia · Attraction
Inneston Historic Village
Ghost town in the bush
schedule 1 min read / Updated Jun 2026
Deep inside Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park, the ghost town of Inneston stands as the best-preserved remnant of a gypsum mining community that thrived from 1913 to 1930. At its peak the town housed around 200 people in limestone cottages alongside a school, bakery, post office, and general store. Today those buildings stand silent in the scrub, connected by a four-kilometre return walking trail from Stenhouse Bay.
The Inneston Historic Walk takes approximately two hours at a leisurely pace, winding through native mallee vegetation to reach the township site. Interpretive signs explain the lives of the families who worked the gypsum deposits supplying plaster and cement to Australia's construction industry, and several restored stone structures remain standing against the bush backdrop.
A handful of the original miners' cottages and heritage houses have been carefully restored by Parks SA and are available as self-contained holiday accommodation, offering the rare experience of sleeping inside a working ghost town. The surrounding national park adds wildlife, coastal walks, and surf beaches to the itinerary.
Visitors should carry water and wear sturdy footwear, as some ruins remain unstable. A vehicle entry fee applies to Dhilba Guuranda-Innes National Park.
Scenic views
