The Story of a Daring Coward –

Sunday Times Perth 31 January 1909, page 1 Have you heard of Jim Connolly? He was a great bushman and a line prospector and could fire two revolvers at once. The left hand was as deadly as the right, and either was certain death if Jim had any interest in mitigating your existence. He was […]

A Lost and Desolate Wanderer –

Evening Journal, Adelaide, 30 January 1894 A Terrible Experience at Coolgardie. A well-known and respected resident of Kent Town, South Australia, has received a letter from his son, who recently went to Coolgardie from Adelaide, from which the following is extracted : On December 24 and 25 1893 (Merry Christmas Day!) I was dying, 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 […]

Captain Kettle and the Toorak Hotel –

The Toorak Hotel, built in 1899. On June 25, 1903, a fire destroyed the whole of the front of the hotel. Situated on the 90 Mile Road, in the early days this was the road out of Coolgardie on the North side. The hotel closed sometime in 1910. Licensee’s Harold B McCormick – 1900 E […]

A Dastardly Deed in Lefroy Street –

Coolgardie Miner 28 December 1897, page 5 SENSATIONAL SHOOTING. Attempted Murder by Four Armed Men A party of shop workers was held up in Forrest Street Coolgardie by two armed and masked men. There is so far no known motive for the dastardly crime and no arrests have been made. The police are baffled! One […]