The people of the Goldfields

The Goldfields of Western Australia was and still is made up of many people, from poets to politicians, from saints and sinners and everything in between. I hope to tell you the stories of some of these people either famous or infamous or just the ordinary folks. Sometime the most ordinary people do the most extraordinry things

Mabel Hartrick – grave tales

Mabel Hutchinson was born in Walhalla, Victoria in 1874. She was the daughter of William Hutchinson and Mary Ann nee Lapping. At the age of 24yrs, young Mabel Hutchinson travelled to the Western Australian town of Geraldton where she married Charles Francis Fade Hartrick in 1899. The following photograph shows Charles with his brother Harry […]

Lennonville – a gold studded pub door

Daily News 23 July 1953, page 5  – By road, 361 miles north-north-east from Perth is Lennonville. A tourist guide book 50 years ago would have described it as a population of 3000, seven hotels, two banks, two jewellers, up-to-date town, mining centre, connected by rail. It’s still Lennonville, the idle railway platform still bears […]

Oliver Hancock – Miner, Prospector & Author

Sun 10 September 1939, page 3 DEEP LEAD POSSIBILITIES DISCUSSED IN NEW BOOK Gold : deep alluvial leads Kanowna and Kalgoorlie: how to find them by Oliver Hancock Mr. Oliver Hancock, a practical miner, and prospector has Issued an informative pamphlet on the deep alluvial leads of Knnowna and Kalgoorlie and how to find them. […]

The Kalgoorlie Biplane –

A piece of aeronautical history will be revived by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder community with a biplane replica based on the one built in the Goldfields town during the early 20th century. The two-seater tractor biplane was built in Kalgoorlie in 1914 by mechanical engineering apprentices Paul JAENTSCH, Roy BURTON, and Walter Merlin PETERS from the Kalgoorlie […]

Certificates – take with a pinch of salt

Certificates – take with a pinch of salt Have you ever purchased a copy of a family death certificate in Western Australia? I am sure many of you will have done so. I have been asked about the following topic a few times over the years so I thought I would explain things and then […]