The following story is published with the kind permission of Dennis Aartsen and is an excerpt from his four-volume set of books, Hotels of the Barrier Ranges. Black Dennis On the 28th of August 1911, a passerby stopped by a modest shack just north of Coolgardie on the Bonnie Vale Road. He found the occupant […]
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
Coolgardie Leidertafel & the Durston family
20/07/2024 By Leave a Comment
The following family story and photographs were kindly supplied and reproduced with permission of the late Mrs Bernice Peters of Wembley, WA with thanks. Robert Groves Durston is the father of Bernice Peters. He was born in 1863 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England and sailed for New Zealand as a two year old with his parents, […]
Alec from Auckland Remembers –
20/07/2024 By Leave a Comment
Western Mail 21 April 1938, page 11 OVER THE PLATES – Dolly Pot Conducted by Non-Com A water problem A Canine Burial The Siberia Rush Slugs from Kurnalpi Water was a serious problem in the Old Camp before the famous water scheme came to fruition. Washing of oneself or one’s clothes was looked upon with […]
Suicide, Cyanide and Scones –
20/07/2024 By Leave a Comment
Murchison Advocate 27 February 1904, page 3 Suicide and Attempted Murder. A SENSATIONAL AFFAIR At Boulder this morning, Alexander Solomon, aged 40yrs, a notorious character and well known to the police, was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a young fellow named Thomas Frank Rassmussen who was the proprietor of a Gold treatment […]
A Golden Wedding in a Goldfields Town
13/07/2024 By 2 Comments
The Sun, Kalgoorlie 8 March 1914, page 7 A GOLDEN WEDDING IN A GOLDFIELDS TOWN On Wednesday last Mr and Mrs Thomas Hickey of Burbanks celebrated their Golden Wedding at the village hall. Dancing was indulged in and the veteran joined in all the dances with the enthusiasm of a boy despite his seventy years. […]
