The people of the Goldfields

The Goldfields of Western Australia was and still is made up of many people, from poets to politicians, from saints and sinners and everything in between. I hope to tell you the stories of some of these people either famous or infamous or just the ordinary folks. Sometime the most ordinary people do the most extraordinry things

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Doctor –

01/04/2023 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

A Wandering Pommy the story of Dr Dale OBE “Search Parties Unsuccessful” The mysterious disappearance of Dr Dale, who has been missing from Kookynie since Saturday last, has caused his friends in Kookynie great uneasiness. It appears that the doctor, who has been practising at Mr M. Schneider’s pharmacy during the past five months, went […]

How the Black Camel Came for Clyde Firebrace

25/03/2023 By Moya Sharp 4 Comments

Kalgoorlie Western Argus -25 December 1900, page 56 HOW THE BLACK CAMEL CAME FOR CLYDE FIREBRACE A Story of the W A Goldfields. by F. Wills Johnson. The man who told me this strange story, Bryce V Fairclough, is one of whom naught but good is spoken, and whose words are of a truth unvarnished. […]

A Policemans Lot – The story of Patrick Donovan

25/03/2023 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

I was recently sent a wonderful family story by Brian Kelly who has done an amazing job of researching the life and times of his ancestor Patrick Donovan. He has given me permission, with thanks, to reproduce an extract from the story of Patrick’s time in Western Australia. Patrick ‘Paddy’ Donovan (AKA O’Donovan) was born […]

Kunanalling or the 25 Mile – ghost towns

25/03/2023 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

KUNANALLING (Also known as the 25 Mile) GPS 30 41 05 S 121 04 0E In Dec of 1892, James Speakman and his party pegged a lease in this area but did not apply for an exemption when he left due to a lack of water. A man called Adams then re-pegged the lease, called […]

Kanowna Cemetery – a work in progress

18/03/2023 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

Usually, when doing a cemetery upgrade for the Outback Family History website, I work on it until everything has been checked again and again and we have photographs of those buried there where available, and also newspaper articles and copies of inscriptions added. For the Kanowna Cemetery (the second one) we are going to do […]