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

Cabbage is a Fossick-King

09/05/2018 By Moya Sharp 5 Comments

Cabbage is a Fossick-King- by Hugh Schmitt (1984) Broad Arrow’s most colourful resident, he makes up a tenth of the permanent population – is a character everybody calls ‘Cabbage’. Joseph OMODEI (few people know his real name) lives in a comfortable tin shack surrounding by his prospecting gear a couple of quartz stone throws from […]

Mulwarrie Cemetery:-

05/05/2018 By Moya Sharp 2 Comments

CHURCH John, d 3 Dec 1902, 1 day, Prem Birth, Father:- Ernest Archibald William CHURCH, Mother:- Amelia RAWLEY. Born Mulwarrie, Buried Mulwarrie Cemetery. Reg North Coolgardie 70/1902 FITZPATRICK Evelyn Mary d. 1 Oct 1903 at Mt Higgins Hotel, 5 minutes, Premature birth, Father:- John Patrick Fitzpatrick –publican, Mother:- Bridget Theresa WALSH, Buried Mulwarrie 52/03 Reg:- North […]

Nungarra Cemetery :

03/05/2018 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

Black Range or Ivy Linden/ Nungarra Cemetery The Black Range district in the East Murchison Goldfields was a promising field in the early 1900s, with the first real township, Nungarra, being established in 1902. By 1903 the population had risen to 900-1000 with 500 men on the alluvial patch alone. It was said only 1 […]

Edward ‘Doo Dah’ Sullivan – grave tales

01/05/2018 By Moya Sharp 1 Comment

SULLIVAN Edward alias ‘Doo-dah” or “Dido” died 2 Jul 1896 age 36yrs – buried 2 miles north of Leonora. For some years his old barrow and some of his equipment reposed by his grave, but gradually they disappeared. Sir John Forrest later arranged to have a headstone and fence to be erected. A pioneer prospector […]

A Man Needs Two Legs – Kevin Moran

29/04/2018 By Moya Sharp Leave a Comment

This is a true story of the Moran family, who worked a pastoral lease at Mangowine to the north of Merredin in the early years. In those days the closest hospital and doctor was at Southern Cross, and in 1905 James Moran was admitted to the hospital suffering from two broken legs. One leg had […]