AN IRISH ROMANCER: THE SEARCH FOR THE REAL WALTER ROBERT FITZGERALD-MOORE Walter Moore, if that was his real name!, was my grandfather, but he died 25 years before I was born. His origins are shrouded in mystery and even the circumstances of his death – “in the arms of his mistress” as my father so bitterly put it – […]
The Fatal Errand of Young Wallace Cocking
From the Kalgoorlie Miner, 27th Jan 1921 News was received today from Menzies of a sad fatality which occurred at Mulline between Friday and Saturday. Wallace David Cocking, 11 years of age and son of Mr Joseph Sylvester Cocking, sandalwood contractor, was sent at 5am on Friday with an urgent message to his father. Mr […]
Harry ‘Tambo’ Taylor – Stockman of the Never Never
On the 19th May 1924, Harry ‘Tambo ’Taylor applied to receive the old-age pension having reached the age of 65 years. His application was refused as he couldn’t show proof of his age. Harry was born to an Aboriginal mother and an Irish father on the Glenalvon Station, NSW, in 1859. He had his mother’s […]
First Mayor of Coolgardie – James Shaw
James Shaw was born in 1846 in Belfast, Ireland. His father was Hugh Shaw, an engineer, and his mother was Margaret. They married in Victoria. In 1864, at the age of 18, James Shaw sailed to Auckland, New Zealand, where he started a most successful contracting business. He also won a service medal for fighting […]
Dan Shea – Discovered Gold With Paddy Hannan
Memorial headstone in memory of prospector Dan Shea, who discovered gold with Paddy Hannan in Kalgoorlie. Dan Shea was born in County Cork, Ireland, and emigrated in 1868 to prospect on the goldfields of Australia and New Zealand. He teamed up with Paddy Hannan and Tom Flanagan, and the three prospectors worked together to prospect […]