Towns and places

The Eastern Goldfields is made up of hundred towns both big and small. Outback Family History would like to bring you a collection of stories about some of these abandoned towns which you may never have heard of. Some may only have been there for a few years and now very little remains of the small thriving communities.

How Mac Held the Bonnie Dundee

How Mac Held The Bonnie Dundee The Golden West Magazine 1921 For The  Golden West by JOHN DRAYTON “My apologies for the Scottish dialect, but it wouldn’t be the same if translated to plain English, hope you can make it out” In the early days of the Victorian goldfields, when , the present writer, was […]

James Webster Berry – Anzac Hero

I was recently sent the following story by Peter Davidson about his relative by marriage, James Webster Berry. He tells me that the widow of James Berry later married Claude Albo de Bernales. James Webster Berry (Reg 4207) was the son of George Berry who was born in 1838 in Fife Scotland and Mary Berry […]

Erlistoun – ghost town

Kalgoorlie Western Argus 13 December 1904, page 19 THE ERLISTOUN by V. Clausen Where is Erlistoun??? Latitude 27″ 59′ 03″ S Longitude 122″ 20′ 25″ East Mt Margaret Goldfields. Located 71.5 km north of Laverton at Borodale Creek once known as Mistake Creek. Erlistoun usually referred to as ‘The Erlistoun’ was never gazetted as a […]

Hinde’s Cash Chemist – grave tales

I was recently sent this wonderful photograph of John Lord Hinde’s Chemist shop in Coolgardie by Nanette Danks who tells me: My great-grandparents arrived in Coolgardie, I presume about 1894. The family legend is that Daisy Hinde (Alice Georgina, actually) was the eighth woman on the goldfields and Beryl was the only child for a […]

Lightning Can Strike Twice –

The coincidence of the following two events was uncovered by Derek Prosser, an OFH reader and contributor. He noted that on the OFH website, I had James Heffernan buried in the Black Flag Cemetery (30 km north of Kalgoorlie). However, this seems to be incorrect from what is said in the newspaper reports of the […]