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AN outback ghost town on the edge of the Australian desert may not be everybody's idea of paradise.

But for Anne and Kevin Dawes, Farina's only residents, it was everything they could have wanted and more.

The South Australian railway town of Farina, Latin for "flour", was settled in 1878 by farmers who believed it would be an ideal place to grow wheat and barley.

Plans were drawn to divide the town into 432 half-acre blocks as several silver and copper mines were dug in the surrounding areas.

Farina came alive with people and new businesses including two hotels, an underground bakery, two breweries, a general store, an Anglican church, five blacksmiths, a school, and even a brothel.

But residents' enthusiasm dissipated as rain refused to fall and the difficulty of obtaining the water necessary for everyday use and for crops became increasingly apparent - and, eventually, they left.

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By the 1980s, when Anne, 64, and Kevin, 68, came to know the inland township, little remained of it except stone ruins and a water tank.

Anne told The Sun: "We just fell in love with the place.

"Loved the country, loved the area. It was just something that clicked with me.

"Growing up, I spent as much time as I could on my grandparents' farm on Kangaroo Island and it was just a natural progression for me."

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The pair, who love history and met at the back of a pub in Lyndhurst about 26km south of Farina, relocated to the town to take over a sheep and cattle station in 1981.

Surrounded by "open, arid" country, with river gums by a creek the only "really tall trees", they made a home and raised three children.

Their sons and daughter grew up "free to explore" and often came across forgotten possessions - from harmonicas and limbs of china dolls to old coins, glassware and watches - that would have belonged to the residents who came before them.

The three children studied online, then 45 minutes away at a town called Leigh Creek, before going to boarding school in Crystal Brook and Port Augusta.

They too moved away from Farina when they became adults.

Anne said: "It's just the two of us living there. In the summer, we don't see very many tourists at all so it's just the two of us and it's pretty quiet.

"But we're quite happy with that. And in the winter time, it gets really busy with tourists around and we've got sheep work to do.

"And then we've also got the cattle work to do, we muster twice a year, so there's lots of busy work and then there's lots of general maintenance."

As long as they're careful with their usage, the couple can survive on water from dams - and bore water in a pinch.

Their closest neighbours live at another sheep and cattle station some 16km away, but Lyndhurst, which has a population of 12, is their closest township.

Anne added: "And then there's Marree in the north which has got about 50 people in it.

"And Leigh Creek in the south, which is where we do our shopping, has about 100 people now. It was a big coal mining town for a long time and then the coal mines closed and the people went."

In 2009, after tourist Tom Harding learned from the Dawes family of Farina's layered history, he rallied a group to help stabilise the crumbling buildings of the abandoned township.

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Tens of volunteers return every year between the months of May and July to continue the preservation of the old town.

Huge crowds flock to Farina during these periods where the volunteers are hard at work, to explore its mysteries, enjoy its clear and starry nights, and try the baked goods prepared in its now-restored underground bakery.

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