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

My Dearest Lottie – grave tales

30/05/2020 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

Several years ago I received a letter from Ian Hopley regarding some old correspondence he found amongst his late mothers papers. They were written by his Great Grandfather William Webster, first from Victoria and then from Malcolm in the Murchison of Western Australia. The letters mention his daughter Delia, nicknamed Deanie, who was Ian’s Grandmother. […]

Dead Man in a Mine Shaft

30/05/2020 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Kalgoorlie Miner Wednesday 31 August 1898, page 4 A Dead Man In A Mine Shaft BELIEVED TO BE A KANOWNA RESIDENT. A gruesome discovery was made at about 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon by Mr H Colin. That gentleman was walking over the ground about three quarters of a mile to the south west of the […]

Burtville Cemetery:

30/05/2020 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

BURTVILLE CEMETERY 14 Named Burials: (thought to be over 30 graves) The first thing I noticed about the Burtville cemetery was the cause of deaths for the 14 named burials. There were no deaths of women amongst them, but there were two infants. Of the 14, if you include the two infants, only 3 were […]

Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin – prospector and pastoralist

23/05/2020 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

The following biography and photographs have been kindly supplied by Jeffrey Oates, whose wife is the great-granddaughter of Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin, a prospector/pastoralist of note in the Lake Darlot area in the late 1800’s until his death in 1930. This is his story- Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin was born on 12 November 1850 in Adelaide, South […]

Suicide, Cyanide and Scones –

23/05/2020 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Murchison Advocate 27 February 1904, page 3 Suicide and Attempted Murder. A SENSATIONAL AFFAIR At Boulder this morning, Alexander Solomon, a notorious character and well known to the police, was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a young fellow named Thomas Rassmussen. While being searched in the lockup at the police station, he […]