Immigrant Buys Dying Australian Town, Plans Tourism Revival

When Baljit Singh Bajwa first saw Leigh Creek in South Australia, he didn't see a dying mining town. He saw a 230-seat cinema, indoor basketball courts, a resort with 100 rooms, and a community ready for reinvention.

The town was built in the early 1980s to house 2,800 coal miners and their families. When the mine shut down in 2015, nearly everyone left, abandoning world-class facilities in the middle of the outback.

In 2024, Bajwa and his business partners took a leap. They purchased the hotel, restaurant, caravan park, resort, service station, cinema complex, and sports facilities. Now Bajwa, affectionately called "Bali" by locals, splits his time between Melbourne and Leigh Creek, serving drinks at the pub and dreaming big.

"You cannot build a town from scratch because most new mines don't build towns anymore," Bajwa said. "If this infrastructure is there, we should make it work."

His vision centers on tourism. Leigh Creek sits near the northern Flinders Ranges, west of Gammon Ranges National Park, and south of Australia's largest salt lake. It's positioned perfectly on a key route between Queensland and South Australia.

Bajwa wants to host arts events, school camps, and conferences in the complex. "I don't think there is any other private business which has those sorts of facilities in Australia," he said.

The Ripple Effect

The remaining 100 residents are rallying behind the vision. Dale McPeake felt drawn to Leigh Creek after stumbling upon it during a spontaneous road trip north. He and his partner James opened The Sassy Emu Tea Room & Collectables, an antiques shop and cafe that surprises visitors.

"Most people say, 'Wow, this is incredible infrastructure,'" McPeake said. "And they walk in here and say, 'Oh my God, we weren't expecting that.'"

The town demolished 200 homes in 2022 to keep its footprint sustainable, but what remains is extraordinary. Station workers still gather at the pub to swap stories. The post office buzzes with local news. The facilities that once served thousands now wait for their second act.

Bajwa knows time is working against him. Without patronage and investment, the infrastructure could deteriorate beyond saving. But he's not deterred.

For a town that could have faded into dust, Leigh Creek is proving that with vision and determination, even the most unlikely places can find new life.