Country towns across Australia have been in steady decline for decades. But some, like Alpha in central Queensland are at risk of vanishing altogether.
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00:00The pub is mostly shut, the bakery doesn't open, and the butcher is up for sale.
00:08We were like, wow, this is just like a ghost town, but there is a lot to do once you're
00:13here.
00:14Known as the gateway to the west, the tiny town of Alpha is about five hours drive west
00:20of Rockhampton.
00:21Alana Lupton thought she'd check it out while travelling the country.
00:25Not just Alpha, in most of the towns that we've stopped in, it's like they're dying.
00:32Once a pastoral hub, the railway, sawmills and cattle industries kept families in town
00:38for generations.
00:39There are many country towns that sort of existed and then almost wiped off the map.
00:45Census data shows coastal areas have boomed in recent decades, while rural populations
00:50continue to dwindle, with some small towns losing up to a third of their residents.
00:55Survival depends on local industries.
00:58We need to be looking at a long-term industry to keep people out here.
01:02And I think one of those ways is to put the autonomy back to the local people.
01:07It was hoped big mining projects would help fuel employment.
01:11But more than a decade later, these projects are all but abandoned.
01:16We thought, well, it looked like when the mines were going to open here, we thought
01:19this would be good for the town, but then that didn't happen either, so I really don't
01:25know what's going to happen.
01:26If you have remote mining areas, you do tend to see more volatility in population numbers.
01:31You can often have waves of growth and then decline tied to mining cycles.
01:36This couple run the post office and opened the town's first coffee shop in 15 years.
01:43I think it's made a difference in terms of both how the community sees itself and how
01:49tourists view us.
01:50So they have something to stop for.
01:53Stopping for a coffee and helping a small town cling to survival.