WHEN THE LEGACY OF EARLY MINING AT KALGOORLIE CREATED A MODERN PROBLEM This story originally appeared in the “GOLDEN MAIL” newspaper in February 1999. It has been partially rewritten to accurately reflect developments since then. Two apparently unrelated events in 1998 briefly opened a window on a little-known geological curiosity with a link to the […]
When the Law Came to Niagara –
20/04/2024 By 1 Comment
Smith’s Weekly 26 November 1927 – by John Drayton How “Justice” was served out on the Goldfields. Niagara was one of the little towns worth a column in the WA Post Office Directory of 1899 following Bob Menzies strike in September 1894. The town’s life was short, but while it was alive, it ‘LIVED’. Menzies […]
Human Gold by N E Gledhill
13/04/2024 By Leave a Comment
This sad and poignant story from the pen of N E Gledhill is kindly shared by his Great Nephew Allen Gledhill with thanks. STEVE HARDING lived with his wife in a tumble-down shanty on the outskirts of the Golden Mile. They were a queer couple. She, a diminutive, white-haired old woman, with deep-set eyes and […]
Murder or Suicide – that is the question
13/04/2024 By 1 Comment
Albert Lockner, a prospector who supposedly died of thirst within 2 miles of the later famed ‘chain of water holes’, making the tragedy particularly distressing. Norman K Sligo who had joined in the search for the missing man met the police at the Donkey Rocks, about 120 miles from Coolgardie. Sligo said that in his […]
Tommy Ningebong by Phil Bianchi
06/04/2024 By 2 Comments
My good friend and fellow historian, Phil Bianchi, recently wrote a book on the well-known bushman, tracker, drover and pastoralist Tommy Ningebong. Tommy was a highly regarded Aboriginal man from the Wiluna district. Phil tells me that every person he interviewed about Tommy for the book spoke of how Tommy was a such a genuine […]
