Yerilla – from gold to gems

Yerilla (Aboriginal name for white Quartz) Latitude: 29 29 S Longitude: 121 50 E Yerilla is an abandoned goldfields townsite located 105 km east northeast of Menzies and 37 km southeast of Kookynie. Gold was discovered in the area in the mid 1890’s, and the miners soon formed a progress committee, and in 1896 requested […]

The Death Outback of ‘Old Jack’ –

John Saul Turner known, as’ Old Jack’, died on the 15th of February 1896 aged between 54 and 57 years, 2 miles southeast of Cement Creek at Mount Margaret. He was found on the 16th of February 1896 and later buried by WP McCormack and Police Constable Lionel Bradley from Menzies. He was a prospector […]

The Grand Old Man of Kalgoorlie – Lewis Alman

With the passing of Louis Arthur Alman, Mayor of Kalgoorlie, on April 1, 1969, at the age of 82, the goldfields community lost one of its most esteemed citizens, and the Western Australia’s Jewish community mourned a steadfast leader. For over 38 years, often nearly single-handedly, Alman kept the flame of Judaism alive in Kalgoorlie. […]

The Death of Stephen Grace –

Western Mail Perth -19 October 1907, page 16 AN EAST MURCHISON TRAGEDY THE DEATH OF STEPHEN GRACE – MURDERED BY NATIVES A telegram was received this afternoon from Constable Walker, who proceeded from Wiluna to bury the body of Stephen Grace, one of Kirkpatrick Bros party of prospectors who was speared through the chest by […]

The Spirit of the Fields –

The Spirit of the Fields by Suter Abis On a stifling summer afternoon in 1910, a mournful procession crept down Hack Street in Sandstone, a small outpost clinging to the edge of the Western Australian scrub. It was a pitiful sight: a spring cart so dilapidated its wheels—lashed together with chaff bags and fencing wire—threatened […]