You may have taken part in the survey I sent out to readers last year on whether or not you thought a ‘Book Finding’ facility for books on the people and the places of the Goldfields of Western Australia. Well I was overwhelmed at the number of responses I got, over 480 people said they thought this would be a good idea.
Since then I have been toying with lots of different ways of making this happen and finally settled on a program called ‘Library Thing’ This great program has allowed me to design a catalogue of all the books that I have come across over the years. I would have about 95% of them with just a few that I have not been able to get a copy of.
I would like to share it with you and if you love history books as I do, I am sure you will enjoy finding new titles. You can search by the title, if you know it. Or you can search by author or just a key word if you are not sure what is available on a particular person or place.
Unfortunately many are out of print or hard to find and if you have any questions about any of these titles just email me. Used copies can sometimes be found on http://used.addall.com/, my favorite book finding site.
If you are happy just to read you should be able to order a copy through your local library many of which have an online ordering facility. You can also join as a member of the State Library of WA where you can request copies books be sent to your local library:- http://catalogue.slwa.wa.gov.au/selfreg~S2
You can access my ‘Goldfields Book Library’ on the right hand sidebar of both my blog and my web site. (see to the right) and the web site address is www.outbackfamilyhistory.com.au There are currently 316 book listed.
I would really appreciate it if you find that a book you know about is not included just send me the title and I will find it and add it in.
My email is moyasharp@westnet.com.au
Moya Sharp
Where Fortunes Lay, by Alexander John Macgeorge, and edited by his son Michael, is one of the very finest books written about the earliest Goldfields. Macgeorge senior was a metallurgist, if I recollect correctly, and after his travels round the Goldfields he settled between Victoria and Kalgoorlie, having an office at 96 Egan Street. Again if I recollect correctly Macgeorge and his mates at one stage had the rights to the Golden Horseshoe and a significant part of the Golden Mile, but had to let it go. He may have gone into a carrying business, maybe connected to the Henderson and Macgeorge in your article.
Apparently a very humane man, respected the Aboriginal people. Michael, who would be about 90 now, kindly exchanged a couple of letters with me a few years ago, but I don’t know whether he is still with us, maybe is. He was born in 1926 when his father Alexander was 56. Yes, a wonderful book by fine people. tony bozich
Hi Tony I agree it certainly is a great book.