Old Tailem Town Pioneer Village — Attraction in Tailem Bend

Oh my gosh, what an incredibly fun place to visit!

Old Tailem Town is a snapshot of Australia's pioneering past in so many ways that you genuinely feel you've stepped through a time portal. From the moment you turn off the highway, into the old village, there are rows or old cars and vans that draw you in. Rail carriages sit behind them dormant. And before you know it, you have spent half an hour or more just snooping at these timeless pieces, before you quickly realise, you haven't even reached the ticket office and paid for your entrance. The uncanny thing is that this is just a mere morsel of what lies beyond.

With a ticket paid and map in hand, you literally go on a walk through time, forgetting that when a new town was built, nothing existed before. In Old Tailem Town you feel like you are being lead by the pioneers who first put their footprints down. A baker, butcher, post office, garage, school, church, graveyard, boat builder, black smith, town hall. Even what an army enlistment office might have been like. It was chilling and inspiring. Awesome.

The first houses, the dressmakers, hat makers...I could go on.

My mind boggled at the size of things, rooms, homes. How did you cope with water, the cold, the heat? Health? Cooking, eating, cleaning? Travel? Friends and family?

This was the life of a pioneering community as upfront and confronting as I've ever seen, anywhere. Sure a lot of it has been staged, but not enough for me to challenge the authenticity of life as it was.

To see my 7 year old son all boggle-eyed and asking questions was so much fun. Little did he know how many questions I wanted to ask :)

My parting comment is for others in the world to make similar "Old Towns" before it is too late and the past is relegated to rust and rubble. Let our kids experience what did. Let their kids pass the...

Look, Old Tailem Town is full of nostalgia for my whole family. We’ve had frequent trips there. I wish I didn’t decide to revisit it. There are so many opportunities to make this the destination it used to be.

1. fix the signs on the road - you always whizz past it at 110km/h (the excuse from the woman working there was that the council said the signs were ‘too distracting’.... how odd)

2. eftpos - it’s 2019. Do not expect people to carry around money for a family at $25 a piece. With all the different payment methods to be cash only is unacceptable.

3. there place has deteriorated - yes it’s old world charm but like many other reviews it actually has become dilapidated. I was a little worried of snakes etc!

4. create moving attractions like a miniature railway for kids or activations of some sort.

5. better food facilities and real coffee would add another star on this place. Being fairly in the middle of two big towns this should be enticing for food and an attraction. Not some old instant coffee and a microwaved pie.

6. you had to hand back the maps and phamplets?.... I go to a lot of attractions that are run by volunteers and investors and they don’t see as low budget and hard on their luck as this.

Verdict: keep driving past until things improve. Real shame. My grandpa...

If you're interested in history and specifically pioneer Australia, this is a fascinating timetravel experience. It was so cool to see everything in place as it would have functioned, as well as having time period products, furniture, clothing verhicles and buildings.

It is mainly outside (with houses you can walk through and businesses you can go into the entrance to look at the displays), Me and my friends went on a really hot day so just be prepared that you'll be in the sun a bit. I can't imagine how people wore suits and dresses back in the day (so glad to be born in the 21st century!).

We did the self guided tour and the employees gives you a detailed map of each building and attraction around the town. Every building has a plaque of information that explains what the buildings were used for (and even where the original building was relocated from!). We went through pretty quickly and managed to finish around 2 hours but would recommend spending 3 or more hours going at a leisurely pace and taking everything in.

The only small downside for me was that there were a few beehives around and I had to avoid those areas (like maybe 4 or 5 at the time) but understandably that can't be helped as it's in nature! Still didn't distract from the...