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

Ripping Yarns and Tragic Tales – Miners

14/12/2019 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Over the last few years, I have checked to see which ‘Miner’ stories had been most viewed. Here is a list of the most popular stories on the Outback Family History Blog. Feel free to share the stories and remember! all stories on the OFH blog may be copied and shared (just give OFH a […]

Sisters of the Church High School –

14/12/2019 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

The following story was written by Fr Ted Doncaster and is an extract from the publication “The Cross in the Field, a history of the Anglican Church in the Eastern and Murchison Goldfields of Western Australia”. It is produced with his permission and I would like to thank him for his assistance and his continued […]

When the Children Come Home – by Henry Lawson

13/12/2019 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

On a lonely selection far out in the West An old woman works all the day without rest, And she croons, as she toils ‘neath the sky’s glassy dome, `Sure I’ll keep the ould place till the childer come home.’ She mends all the fences, she grubs, and she ploughs, She drives the old horse […]

A Dreadful Burning Fatality:

07/12/2019 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

The threat if fire was a constant danger for early residents of the Goldfields. Most homes were constructed of lightweight flammable material and lots of the cooking would be done on an open fire. Lighting would be with either with candle or kerosene lanterns. The following story is of one family tragedy, but there were […]

They drank Champagne out of pint pots!

30/11/2019 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

GLIMPSES of life in Coolgardie in those glamorous days when the “old camp” was a magnet to adventurous folk from far and wide, can be interestingly recalled by 89year old Mrs. Julie Kennedy, who resides in Stirling-street, Perth. Picture scions of wealthy English families rubbing shoulders with miners from the Bendigo diggings, thousands of gold […]