Outback Family History

A clock on the wall – Lindell Jewellers

16/06/2018 By Moya Sharp 4 Comments

In 2008 I was contacted by Kirsti Hiekka Langbein who lives in Finland, and who was seeking information on her Grandfather who was a jeweller in early Kalgoorlie. We corresponded for some time and I was able to tell her that the clock in the Kalgoorlie town hall chambers was made by Lindell’s Jewellers, as was […]

A Goldfields Fantasy by Tony Bozich

15/06/2018 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

The following verse was written by Tony Bozich in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie by Paddy Hannan, Thomas Flanagan and Dan Shea. Thus setting off a major gold rush in the area, and the rest, is as they say, is ‘History’. […]

Robert MacKey Pioneer Cordial Maker:

08/06/2018 By Moya Sharp 3 Comments

Several years ago I was contacted by Roderick Martin from the Tavistock Museum in Devon, England. Roderick was researching local cordial makers in his area for an upcoming book. he had found an inscription on this grave stone in the Plymouth Road cemetery in Tavistock. Sacred to the memory of Louisa MacKey, beloved wife of Robert […]

Ptomaine Poisoning – the silent killer

07/06/2018 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

The term, ptomaine poisoning, is was used to include all sorts of cases of bacterial poisoning due to the consumption of unhealthy food, except where specific disease. e.g. tuberculosis. is conveyed. The main reason was contamination from tinned food that had not been prepared or tinned properly. Anyone who has travelled in the outback will […]

My Own Dear Boy:-

03/06/2018 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette 29 July 1897 SUICIDE AT SMITHFIELD Last Saturday week a miner, Thomas McKileen, living by himself in a tent at Smithfield, committed suicide by blowing his brains out. At an inquest held on Monday afternoon before the acting-Coroner, Mr. E. O. Butler, J,P. it was elicited that on Friday […]