I have read of many tales of hardship and terrible accidents over the years, but the following story is, without doubt, one of the saddest and most tragic of all I have ever come across. I first read about it some time ago when I was contacted by Ian Leithhead, who asked me to assist […]
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
A Family Affair
17/12/2022 By Leave a Comment
The dire economic situation and lack of marital prospects in Yugoslavia prompted many young women to embrace the uncertainty of an ‘Australian’ husband. Women were usually without means and thus restricted with their choices. Yet even when they had been educated, their families influenced their choice of husband and condemned them to a bush life […]
Kanowna – a diggers life
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Kalgoorlie Miner 21 July 1898, page 2 Among the Kanowna Diggers Why is a digger unlike a leopard ? was a question once asked of me. That riddle was easily answered, for the leopard cannot change his spots, and the digger can, and I think the Kanowna diggers are frequently doing it. Formerly the digger […]
William James Cecil – grave tales
17/12/2022 By 1 Comment
This wonderful photograph was taken at the rear of the ‘Fancy Goods Depot’ at 65 Bayley Street, Coolgardie. In the photograph are Annie Cecil, William James ‘Jim’ Cecil, and their two sons Clyde and Les Cecil. The photograph was taken in 1906 by Jack Bayley who was Annie’s Brother-in-law. The family ran this store for […]
A Story from the Old Camp – The Murder of Mercy Gregory
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The Sunday Times 5th November 1911 Recently in the Old Coolgardie Cemetery a kindly hand repainted the lettering on a rough wooden tomb slab erected to the memory of Arthur Court the son of the late Dr Court, the once well-known philanthropist of Melbourne. The young fellow had been drinking heavily for months in mid […]
