Replica Wild West town in Yandoit on the market

Chris Oliver and his wife Shirley spent years building a Wild West town in their backyard.

It’s called Cross Creek, named after the quiet town in The Fastest Gun Alive, the film that inspired the project.

🗣️: “I always liked it, with Glenn Ford … it was always a good old Western, still is today,” Oliver told the Brolga. 

The town has been his on-and-off hobby for years.

🗣️: “I’ve always liked Western stuff. When I finished work as a truck driver and started to work for myself … part of it was carting away a lot of rubbish from people’s place. Old iron wasn’t worth anything, so I thought I might as well build a couple little buildings and before I knew it I had a little town.” 

Oliver said Cross Creek has been popular with local car clubs, Vietnam veteran groups and tourists. He previously ran tours through the town and showed 16mm films on a projector in the replica village’s old-fashioned movie theatre. 

The house itself: Cross Creek is part of a larger property containing a four-bedroom residential home on 12 acres of land. 

The township out the back includes a courthouse, blacksmith, saloon, church containing a century-old organ and a jail. 

Time for a change: Oliver and his wife put the property on the market in order to downsize. 

• “Good interest in it now, so I can pull back and come down a notch. I’m getting too old to look after it,” he said. 

The property has a price guide of $1.05 - $1.125 million.