The Legend of ‘Hellfire Jack’

From: The Countryman, 1st Sept 1950 – There was the time that the brokers who were negotiating to purchase the Merton’s Reward Goldmine in 1902 arrived at Menzies by horse drawn buggy at 8pm, after the train for Kalgoorlie had left. It was essential for them to reach Kalgoorlie before midnight when the option on […]

Coolgardie Childrens Hospital – A First !!!

The Childrens Hospital Coolgardie – the first children’s hospital in Western Australia, functioned for a time in Coolgardie but was eventually abandoned and the patients were placed in a special ward in the Government hospital close by.  In 1904 the local authorities took over the building and used it as an infectious disease hospital. Note:  […]

Liquid Gold – The Elliott Brothers Breweries

Tom and Bill Elliott came to Western Australia in 1893 and moved immediately to the Goldfields where they began a business as cartage contractors. After two years, in 1895,  Tom built a cordial factory near the Kalgoorlie rail line and also the Federal Brewery in Kalgoorlie for F W Whitfield. In 1898 he was to […]

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 […]

Paddy Hannan’s Statue –

Paddy Hannans Statue Early in 1928 the ‘Kalgoorlie Sun’ newspaper directed the attention of the residents of Kalgoorlie that although a plaque and a tree existed to make the first place where gold was found in Kalgoorlie no permanent memorial to the man who found it, Paddy Hannan, existed. The article suggested that a memorial […]