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

The Story of a Daring Coward –

Sunday Times Perth 31 January 1909, page 1 You have heard of Jim Connolly! He was a great bushman and a line prospector and could fire two revolvers at once. The left hand was as deadly as the right, and either was certain death if Jim had any interest in mitigating your existence. He was […]

Hasty’s Grave – mans best friend

Hasty’s Grave This grateful country cherishes the fine courageous band Who pioneered the wilderness, and founded our great land And so it is appropriate that the name of one so brave Be printed on our outback maps, marked simply ‘Hasty’s Grave’ And for those who wished to go there, and find the grave, perhaps Longitude […]

Isabel Henderson – grave tales

Isabel (Isabella) Waugh was born on the 7th of February 1873 in Redpath, Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England. She was the daughter of Thomas Waugh (1821-1882) and Anne nee Henderson. The English Census of 1891 shows Isabella, aged 18yrs, living as a housekeeper to her brother, William Henderson/Waugh, a shepherd. She arrived in Australia between 1891-1894. In […]

The Gate of Golden Hope

by John K Ewers  –  Western Mail Perth 25 December 1928, page 76 Micky O’Driscoll, or “Micky the ‘Micky the Priest,” as he was known, humped his bluey disconsolately through the scrubby jam-tree thicket. Behind him some ten miles lay the town . . . . Hell’s blessings on it! . . . where he […]

The Ghosts of Bayley Street – a verse

Almost 1000 men under the age of 26 lies buried in the Coolgardie Cemetery. The Ghosts of Bayley Street Last night the occult was in power And as the clocks struck midnight hour With saddened eyes and soundless feet, A thousand ghosts walked Bayley Street Ghosts of men who, joys denying Paved the way, and […]