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

Yerilla – a ghost town

25/05/2019 By Moya Sharp 5 Comments

YERILLA Latitude : 29 29 S Longitude : 121 50 E Yerilla is an abandoned goldfields townsite located 830 km east north east of Perth, 105 km east north east of Menzies and 37 kms south east of Kookynie. Gold was discovered in the area in the mid 1890’s, and the miners soon formed a […]

The Great Boulder Disaster of 1904

25/05/2019 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

THE GREAT BOULDER DISASTER. FUNERAL OF THE VICTIMS, HOW THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED. THE ENGINE DRIVER’S ACCOUNT. A great deal has been written, both in the newspapers of the day and since, on the terrible tragedy of ‘The Great Boulder Disaster’ on May 25th 1904. It would be the greatest number of fatalities in one accident that […]

Crime Passionnel – tragedy at Kanowna

23/05/2019 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

Kalgoorlie Western Argus 4 October 1900, page 10 Tragedy at Kanowna. ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE. A shocking tragedy, the motive of which is not yet ascertainable, owing to the meager particulars at hand, was enacted at Kanowna on Tuesday afternoon. A Frenchman named Henri Lance, who was connected with the recent prostitute cases in Kalgoorlie, […]

They wished upon a star : a history of Southern Cross and Yilgarn

18/05/2019 By Moya Sharp 3 Comments

They wished upon a star : a history of Southern Cross and Yilgarn by P.T. McMahon. Did you know that ‘MIRRABOOKA’ is the aboriginal word for Southern Cross??? YILGARNIA On that ancient sea bed of Yilgarnia, one of the oldest land surfaces in the world. Yilgarnia, timeless and mysterious, a land of such antiquity, that […]

A Very Private Wedding:

18/05/2019 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

Western Argus 24th March 1903 Boulder The Marriage of Arthur Waldo Connelly to Marion Way 1903 Boulder Western Australia A wedding that occasioned much interest in social circles took place on March 4 between Dr. Arthur Waldo Connelly, youngest son of the late Mr. T. J. Connelly. of Bendigo, Victoria, and Miss Marion Way, youngest daughter […]