Hartley, 120 km west of Sydney, was a staging post on the road across the mountains in the mid-19th century. When gold was discovered "out west" in the 1850's, Hartley did well with the passing traffic, but languished when the town was bypassed by the railway in the 1880s. The remaining buildings are now conserved as a "historic site", managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Carcoar, 258 km west of Sydney, is later, and was an administrative centre 100 years ago, with some substantial buildings. The whole town is heritage-listed and it gives the impression to a visitor of a film set for a historical movie.