Krakow, the lost Australian people who survive the ghosts and a legendary pub

Not all roads lead to Krakow. In fact, reach this city in the heart of Outback in Australia requires careful preparation. The GPS signal already disappears halfway and there are no petrol stations along the way. In order not to be blocked in the middle of nowhere, it is necessary to transport fuel.

Krakow, however, rewards the effort: after a long road full of holes, there is finally a city that may not look like Polish of Krakow, but he did it Your character. Los Link of the city with Poland They are still clear. Some argue that the founder of the first settlement in these places had a Polish wife and felt moved by the struggle of his compatriots for freedom in the nineteenth century.

Others say the name Comes from the whisper of the dry branchesthat abound in this hard climate. However, this does not change the fact that, from the beginning, this place has attracted people with a spirit of explorer and desires for a more than normal life.

Kicow It was built on gold. It is one of the last cities that has grown during the golden fever of the 1930s. At its peak, the city had about 10,000 people who lived here and were extracted Almost 20,000 kg of gold In the local mine.

Over time, good luck has ended: the golden mine closed and Krakow became a ghost city. The population was reduced to about 50 inhabitants and the center was full of rusty buildings, from the old courier office to a closed school. Among these, however, the Cracoow hotel stands out, with its uninterrupted bar managed by Stuart and Nikki Burke together with their two children, Brophy and Chilli.

While The golden mine he resumed his operations after years of oblivion, this Did not bring the regeneration expected to people. So we came here to see alone how a pub works in the middle of nothing and to find out who they decided to live life in this forgotten place.

A magnet for adventurers

The owner of the pub and the Cracoow hotel, Stuart Burke, is One of those rare free spirits willing to choose nature Australian as your home. Stuart was part of a group of boxers in his youth and, under the nickname “Kid Goanna”, he participated in the fighting. The fighters were traveling from a city in the city, offering A rare moment of entertainment to farmers and miners who work hard inside Australia.

The Cracoow hotel had already been in the hands of another boxer: for many years he was owned by the Legendary Fred Bropy BoxerAn Australian curtain icon fighting.

He was in the Pub of Cracoow where he met his future wife. When Brophy announced that he would sell the place, Burke immediately decided to buy itAnd today it is the one who take care that the story of Cracow continues.

“23 years later we are married, we have two children and we continue in the pub in which we met”, I laugh at Stuart. But Life in the Australian desert is not an idyll. There are no packages for Krakow and the nearest shop is three and a half hours in the car. Burkes do what they can, but in the middle of the tourist season they have to travel this route to the week. Stuart stresses, however, that it is not so bad: “Only 10 years ago they set the way!”

Despite the difficulties, The family does not imagine living somewhere else. They agree that Krakow is their place on earth and that transports the pub is a lifestyle. As Nikki recalls, since its foundation in 1938, the pub trained in its “survival capacity” even in the worst moments.

“You have to lose yourself”

Stuart stresses that there are two ways to get to Krakow: “Or you must be very meticulous to reach us Or you lose a lot, a lot!“. The spiritual atmosphere and the reputation of the Last city of time of the gold fever attract a particular type of visitor. “We visit all types of people, but above all vagabonds, travelers and even rock stars,” he says. The walls and ceilings of the pub, covered from top to bottom with the signatures of visitors, are a file of all those who managed to reach this remote place.

But Krakow Evaluate loyalty above all: Those who live in the area permanently visiting the pub regularly and the staff knows their memory orders. It is a place to exchange good and bad news, listen to local gossip and complain about time.

Pub owners are particularly proud of which Get customers despite not having machines Póquer, the “Pokies” so called, who bloom in a massive way in Australia. Game dependence is one of the main public health problems in the country. Australians lose more than $ 25,000 million (21,933 million euros) per year in legal bets, which makes them the world “leaders” in per capita losses.

Kracoow’s pub resists these trends by trying Build a local identity around other activities. Recently, the owners have been involved in organizing a concentration of Crakowns, both descendants of ancient miners and those whose ties with the city are purely emotional. Residents also recognize the role played by the Reopen Mine.

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Although he has not contributed to a significant growth of the population, he participates in the life of the local community, sponsoramong other things. And so, the Krakowmen refuse to be stubbornly to their city that disappears from the map.

Is it around here?

In recent years, The city has acquired another facetaken directly from a horror movie. A shooting team was installed at the abandoned hospital in Krakow and the city has become The Mecca of horror cinema independent.

The creator of special effects and make -ups Kadey Platt, who works as a waitress at the cancavia pub, explains that although it ended up in the city by chance, It hasn’t been able to leave for two years. “I am a girl in the city. I never imagined in this place.” She and her team were looking for a place for a horror movie on a cangat of zombies. The strangeness of Krakow’s pub seemed ideal and Kadey decided to stay.

She and her team bought an abandoned hospital and made it its command center. As he remembers “,The tranquility that Krakow offers favors creativity. There are no distractions, instead you can find a changing mother who relaxes next to the threshold. “

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Kadey stresses that the contrast between people and the animated pub does not stop surprising it. “These walls They are full of history“He says.

Ghosts of the city

From the spirits of Krakovia, Brophy, the 20 -year -old son of the owners of the pub, who bears the name of the legendary boxer through which his parents met. Together with her mother, Brophy investigated Nameless tombs of Krakow. Thanks to their efforts, they have been able to restore the cemetery and commemorate the miners and local buried premises whose names are no longer remembered.

As he points out, even if Nobody finds gold in Krakow aloneThe floor of this place also hides traces of other stories. Brophy is also interested in the fate of the indigenous inhabitants of the area: their culture, their customs and their tragic destinations. Explore the traces of the massacres perpetrated against the Aborigines by the white settlers in search of gold. “It’s an unwritten chapter,” he says.

Just when we were about to leave Krakow, a car stopped in front of the pub. One of the premises approached Brophie A box full of old newspaper cutsFound in a trachage penthouse. “I have new stories for you,” he said.

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And so we saw with our eyes Like a pub in the Australian desert it had become a custodian of memory of a small city and its intricate history. “This is Krakow,” says Stuart. “It may not be traveling, but you can’t stop going back to him!”