Behind the Gate
There's an entire community built around the abandoned spaces in your neighbourhood, but there’s more to these groups than jumping fences.
They’re known as urban explorers, or "urbexers". Some are thrill-seekers, risking trespass and physical injury for their next Instagram post. Others are home-grown historians; researching and recording historical sites before they’re lost forever.
Urban explorers are coming together on social media to share their content, but mistrust and hostility are running rampant in their gate-kept communities.
Urban exploration is dangerous and often illegal.
It's the intentional foray into particular chosen sites, without legal approval or accompaniment… it's not an organized, guided tour… people do it themselves.
Neglected buildings come with an extensive list of physical risks: broken glass, unstable flooring, gas leaks, and even squatters. Asbestos is another common hazard, making a respirator essential.
But before they even get inside, explorers must make it past security guards, CCTV, silent alarms, police, locks, and razor wire. If caught, they can face charges of trespass or criminal damage.
But the danger of prosecution doesn’t end once they leave the site. Most urban explorers use social media to post their photos.
Jim*, an Adelaide-based “urbexer,” runs one of the largest history-focused pages in Australia. On social media, he posts anonymously under the "exploring name" of Jim’s Urbex. He’s seen what can happen to explorers who don’t create an anonymous handle:
“The only guy blogging abandoned stuff in Adelaide would blog his face in the abandoned spot. Then the landowner found his video… and she took it to the cops. Because he had his full name against [his content], they started investigating him and tried to take him, and a bunch of other explorers, to court. So it's like, 'Yeah, **** this, I need to have an anonymous account'.”
But as a history-focused explorer, that’s not his only reason. “The photos and the history should really speak for itself. It shouldn't be so much about me.”
Urban Historians
Many explorers are drawn to the hobby by a love of modern history. Some preserve the sites they visit through photography and videography. Going one step further, Jim's Urbex is creating 3D LiDAR scans of abandoned spaces around Adelaide.
Hear more about how Jim* is preserving history before its demolished:
Windsor Theatre - Lockleys, SA
Scan created by Jim's Urbex of the Windsor Theatre in Lockleys, SA before its demolition in 2020. Scroll / pinch to zoom.
Graffitied wall, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Graffitied wall, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Razor wire wrapped in vines, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Razor wire wrapped in vines, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Hear why you should take a second look at the derelict buildings in your area, and the history that @Suttpups and @Jim's_Urbex have uncovered while exploring.
Abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Fencing, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Fencing, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Hornsby Quarry void, soon to be redeveloped | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Hornsby Quarry void, soon to be redeveloped | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Parking sign, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Parking sign, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Razor wire, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Razor wire, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant. | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Padlocked gate, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Padlocked gate, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Gate, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Gate, abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Derelict house, St Ives, NSW | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Derelict house, St Ives, NSW | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Derelict house, St Ives, NSW | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Derelict house, St Ives, NSW | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant interior | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Abandoned Hornsby Quarry Stone Crusher Plant interior | Photo: Henry McGilchrist
Gatekeeping & Newcomers
It’s harder than ever to be welcomed into urban explorers' online communities.
Etiquette is at the heart of the hobby, but fears are growing that newer members lack respect for the history of abandoned buildings. Australia’s largest closed urbex Facebook group has 178,525 members.
One of the world’s most prolific urbexers, Dr Bradley Garrett, has likened the etiquette of urban exploration to an ancient Roman legal term: usufruct; the right to enjoy someone else’s property, as long as it is respected and not damaged.
Professor Phil McManus was head of the School of Geosciences during Bradley Garret’s time teaching at the University of Sydney in 2019. He says that the site’s abandonment is equally important: “You wouldn't necessarily go and explore someone's house while they're at home.
“Every real, urban explorer goes by that… Literally go there, take photos, have a look around, enjoy it. You kind of envision what it used to look like when it was operating.”
Hover over each state to see how many users are members of each online, state-based Facebook group or page.
Initially exploring his way into the London Underground from city streets, Dr Bradley Garrett descended into war-era bunkers, and finally into critical telecommunications tunnels. In 2012, he was arrested on the tarmac of Heathrow airport and charged with criminal damage after removing a board and then replacing it in the course of his exploration. Bradley has since discussed his experience and the etiquette of usufruct on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and a 2014 TED Talk titled “The Value of Trespass.”
However, there's a good reason behind some of the community's gatekeeping.
Any experienced explorer will tell you about an abandoned location that’s been trashed after being posted in the wrong place.
Urban Explorers have good reason to keep explorers out. Footage: Henry McGilchrist 2021 unless otherwise attributed
Even in closed groups, posting the address or coordinates of an abandoned spot is generally considered too risky.
Instead, amateur detective work is often needed when hunting for new sites to explore. Jim says it’s all about finding clues in the photos and videos posted online, giving the example of “a certain kind of tree in the background that only grows in a certain [part] of Adelaide.”
It’s a method that generally pays off, according to Suttpups: “I could see these big cliffs and stuff like that, so I ended up going on Google Earth. After about an hour I found it based on, the location and what the cliffs look like.”
Video has long been frowned upon by parts of the community for giving away too many cues and being shared publicly, so it’s no surprise that the rise of urbex content on TikTok is stirring up new waves of online abuse towards creators like Suttpups.
Footage: Henry McGilchrist 2021 unless otherwise attributed
Urban explorers are doing much more than trespassing on derelict sites. Behind the gates of their secretive social media communities, inquisitive creators are preserving the history of our towns and cities.
