[19] The tunnel, known as 'Lang's Tunnel'—begun first in the 1890s—lay west of the later oil shale mine; it had a length of 4,300 ft (1,300 m),[20] by the time that work on it was abandoned in September 1906.

From 1938, the area adjacent to the site of Glen Davis became the centre of a revival of the oil shale industry.

[25][26] Construction of the Glen Davis Oil Shale Works began in 1938, before the town existed,[27] and the earliest workers had to live in tents or otherwise make their own housing.

This shanty housing often made use of white-washed hessian bagging and other inexpensive materials that were to hand,[28] and the area became known at the 'Bag Town'.

[36] Houses later built there were financed and constructed under a cooperative building scheme, under which no deposit was required but equity was allocated based on the value of rental payments made.

The town had a doctor, a pharmacist, three churches, a community centre, golf course, bowling green, children's playground and tennis courts.

[37] Driven by government policy and a shortage of labour for the shale oil operations, post-war migrants settled in the town from around 1948, facing hostility from some workers and residents.

[46][47] Equipment in the plant was auctioned off in early 1953, by which time the ambulance station had closed, the town was taking on a forlorn unkempt appearance, and the population had fallen to 460.

By mid-1954, the population had fallen to 320, there were 80 empty houses, only three shops were left open— general merchant, butcher and newsagent— and the town had lost its doctor, police station and clergymen.

[42] The skeleton of a town survived in the form of some properties, a hotel, a post office, and a shop or two that operated intermittently.

[33] The creation of the Wollemi National Park brought a degree of tourism to the area and the ruins of the oil shale works are now also a minor tourist attraction.

Some buildings associated with the old town are now used for tourist accommodation, including the hotel, in the old township,[50] and the former Inspector's and General Manager's cottages, at the locality known as 'the Poplars'[51] that lies between the modern-day village and the ruins of the works.

[52] A lasting legacy of the shale oil era is that the village still receives its freshwater supply via the concrete pipeline from the Oberon Dam.

[54] The National Parks and Wildlife Service marked out a track between Glen Davis and Newnes, in the Wolgan Valley, and this became a popular walk known as the Pipeline Pass.

[60] The Glen Davis Shale Oil Works and a property now resumed into the National Park downstream from these sites was the location (Paradise Valley) for the 1980 Australian movie The Chain Reaction.

The movie was directed by Ian Barry and starred Mel Gibson (uncredited)[61] Steve Bisley, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward and Tim Burns, amongst other fellow Mad Max cast and crew.