While researching the people who are buried in the Cue Cemetery, John Pritchard, one of my valued volunteers, uncovered the story of Victoria Margaretta Gill, who was first buried in the Cue Cemetery in 1905. She was then transferred to and reburied at the Dongara Cemetery and thence to the Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth. I […]
THE FATE OF DICK BRANDON: A Goldfields Story of Mystery and Madness
Sun Kalgoorlie Sunday 16 March 1902 Brandon’s fate A TALE OF DARLOT by Pharisee. The eager, excited crowd that thronged the long dry stage to the Darlot diggings in the first blush of the new discovery included Dick Brandon and his mate, Jimmy Spiggot. That dreary and waterless track skirting the edge of desolate Lake […]
The Hotel Australia, Laverton: A Goldfields Survivor
The Hotel Australia in Laverton, Western Australia, still stands today. It has changed very little over the years, as you will see from the following photographs. The building has been reused for lots of different purposes over the years, but the façade has remained throughout its various uses. Originally, the Hotel Australia was built in […]
From Highland Rebel to Goldfields Pioneer: The Life and Sorrows of Neil Calder
I have recently been in correspondence with Lisa Clifford, who has very kindly allowed me to share the following story and photographs with you. She originally got in touch with me after seeing the grave of Alistar Douglas Calder in the Black Range (Nungarra) Cemetery on the Outback Family History website. Lisa tells me that […]
Married in Name Only: Kalgoorlie Union That Never Began
Daily News, 13 June 1928 — retold for Outback Family History A Kalgoorlie marriage so brief it never made it past the church steps Kalgoorlie has seen its fair share of whirlwind romances, but few were quite as brief — or as baffling — as the union of miner Francis Nelson ELLIS and his bride […]