Bob Wozga packed his camera, grabbed his DR650 and headed into NSW’s Blue Mountains to absorb some history from a couple of small towns: Newnes and Portland
With the discovery of shale in the Wolgan valley in the early 1900s, a town was set up by the Commonwealth Oil Corporation and named after its chairman, Sir George Newnes.
Agricultural centres grew on the backs of squatters and selectors.
People came to the towns with dreams of making a comfortable living for themselves and their families. Some towns flourished and remain today as thriving settlements along highways and rail lines, while some faded away and are now only remnants of shops or chimney stacks on the side of the roads.