As far as the Australian postal network is concerned, the tiny outback town of Cook in South Australia’s portion of the dusty red Nullarbor Plain doesn’t exist. Once, this intersection of three gravel roads, residences and civic buildings along the transcontinental railroad was home to a thriving community of 200-odd people. Now, its buildings are condemned and Cook doesn’t have a postcode. By all accounts, it’s a ghost town.

Try telling that to Michelle Lutze, caretaker of Cook, population: four. That number quadruples – and then some – when train drivers pull in to catch their zzz’s at the rest house. Oh, and then add the town dog, Nulla, who wandered here six years ago and now rides shotgun on Lutze’s rounds.

The idea that it’s a dead town, though? “Wrong,” Lutze says.

“It’s very alive and happening,” she says. “Pinch me. I’m here.”

Cook – named after former Australian prime minister Joseph Cook – is 1138 kilometres from Adelaide and 1523 kilometres from Perth, situated in the 478-kilometre straight stretch of rail track between Ooldea and Loongana. It’s an essential pit-stop for the Indian Pacific, which pauses here on the second night of the new five-day itinerary from Perth to Sydney.

When our train pulls in after dinner service to receive a refuel and fresh water from the Cook reserves, we climb out of the carriages and head to a raging bonfire surrounded by tables topped with cups of tawny and hot chocolate.

The Eyre Highway is a 100-kilometre drive away, so the Cook community now relies on the Indian Pacific for deliveries of essential resources. That being said, locals maintain a few garden patches in town and the recent cucumber and carrot crops delivered a quality turnout.

Cook was once a beacon on the Pindan Plateau, where generations of rail workers and their families lived after the completion of the Trans-Australian Railway in 1917. As trains began operations, small communities were set up at 30-kilometre intervals along the most remote outback sections of the line.

Cook was a thriving community, with many residents living in the town for decades. When the town “shut down”, many of its buildings were sold and taken away by truck. The seven homes left are used by the visiting railway workers and Cook’s residents, and there’s an on-site barracks for train drivers.

Lutze moved to Cook from Adelaide in mid-2024. With a background as a trained chef (no motivation, she insists, for moving to a town with a name synonymous with that craft) and years spent on farming properties and in construction, Lutze’s eclectic skill set made her the perfect fit for the job, which runs the gambit from maintenance to problem-solving, and then some.

All around her, the ghosts of Cook’s past watch on. The primary school is now empty; the water of the pool, once a source of relief for the community when the temperatures regularly climbed into the very high 40s in this barren outback plain, has been replaced with soil and a pepper tree in the deep end. The old video store is now just dusty shelves with a handful of discarded DVDs.

The jail cells – two tin shacks with a peephole each – are near the general store/post office, which also served as the repeater station. The hospital closed in 1998, and the golf course’s fading, flaking sign advertises long-forgotten daily greens fees of $2. There are no streetlights or asphalt in town, either, so there’s no public address system.

“I find it quite calming. There’s no noise. It’s just peace,” Lutze says. “There’s no fear of anything, and if there’s anything spiritual around, I don’t feel they’re angry … They feel like they’re there being friendly.”

Tonight, the bonfire is our bright locational beacon. Above us, the stars glitter and burble, a dome of cosmos that meets the flat ground as far as the eye can see. Despite the population tally, Lutze says, there’s plenty of life out here yet.

“If anything happens here, I always say, ‘The ghost of Cook’s done it,’” she says with a smile. “We blame the ghosts of Cook quite a bit for things. If something gets moved or something’s gone funny, ‘Oh, it must’ve been the ghost of Cook.’”

Behind her the bonfire sparks, casting lively shadows and silhouettes that dance, flit and wiggle, like the spirits that once – and, perhaps, still – called Cook home.

THE DETAILS

TRAIN
Cook is a stop on the five-day Indian Pacific journey from Perth to Sydney, and vice versa. Cabins start at $4300 a person with Gold, Gold Premium and Platinum cabins available as well as Chairman’s carriages and – from April 2026 – private Aurora Australis suites. The trip is all-inclusive, with a comprehensive selection of meals, alcohol and off-train excursions included.
Wi-Fi is intermittent in remote and regional parts of Australia, but it is usually available in the lounge car for free guest use.

The writer travelled as a guest of Journey Beyond. See journeybeyondrail.com.au