Kathleen Valley – Western Australia
Located in the Leonora District
The Yellow Aster Hotel, Kathleen Valley – Photo SLWA
Latitude : 27 31 S Longitude : 120 34 E
Kathleen (Kathleen valley) is an abandoned townsite in the East Murchison Goldfield, located about 50 km north of Leinster. Gold was discovered in the area in 1897, and a townsite was gazetted in 1900. Locals originally referred to the place as Kathleen Valley, as the original gold find was in a valley. When the townsite was gazetted, the Inspector of Plans in the Department of Lands and Surveys thought the name incongruous and dropped the “Valley” from the name. The town is named after Kathleen Colreavy, the wife of Yilgarn Pioneer Leo Colreavy.
Kathleen Valley Cemetery – Reserve 10290
27°31.18’S 120°33.58’E
Kathleen Valley cemetery with Edward Coffey’s Grave and plaques supplied by outbackgraves.org
BURNETT George Alexander – d 4 May 1925, at Kathleen Valley, 65yrs, Occ: Carpenter, Cause: Senile Decay, Father: Nathaniel BURNETT, Mother: Ellen MANN, Born: 28 Feb 1860 in Bootle, Merseyside, Liverpool, England, In WA 30 yrs, Registered by J J Currie, Single, Reg East Murchison 2/1925, ANG, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
COFFEY Edward – d. 3 Jan 1906, at Kathleen, 44yrs, Occ: Publican of the Kathleen Valley Hotel, Cause: Chronic Nephritis, Father: Michael COFFEY, (Farmer/Contractor), Born: Kilmore, Ireland In WA 11 yrs, Married to Kathleen ‘Catherine’ Helen Phillibent MARKAM later QUAIN, in Sydney NSW aged 31yrs, Children: John Edward Prendergast 8yrs, Clifford Felix 6yrs, Kathleen Mary 3yrs, Registered by J V O’Neill (Friend), Reg East Murchison 2/1906, RC, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
COX Frederick Lewis – d. 11 May 1905, at Kathleen Valley, 28yrs, Occ: Miner, Cause: Enteric Fever, Born: Talbot VIC, From Campbell’s Creek, Castlemaine VIC, Single, Registered by Chandler E Logan (Friend), Reg: East Murchison 8/1905, ANG, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
CURRAN Corridon Philip – d 24 Sep 1903, at Nil Desperandum GM, Kathleen Valley, 27yrs, Occ: Miner, Cause: Accidentally killed by a fall of stone, Verdict of the Coroner, Born: Ireland, not long been in Australia, Reg: East Murchison 25/1903, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery. Mine Death – www.wavmm.com
Nil Desperandum GM, 5 head battery – 1935 Photo TROVE
LEECH John – d 16 May 1905 at Kathleen Valley, 26yrs, Occ: Miner, Cause: Enteric Fever, Father: Benjamin LEECH (Fruiterer), Mother: Emily LAWLESS, Born: Kyneton VIC, In VIC 20yrs, In WA 6yrs, Single, Registered by S G Fleming (Friend), Reg: East Murchison 9/1905, ANG, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
John LEECH
NELSON (NEILSEN) William – d 6 May 1903, at Kathleen Valley, 40yrs, Occ: Carpenter, Cause: Burned in a dwelling no evidence how fire occurred, born Stockholm Sweden in 1851, Father: Peter NEILSEN, Mother: Mary Jane HOLSKEIN, In VIC 18yrs, In WA 7yrs, Married to Sarah Josephine CULLEN in Echuca VIC at age 26yrs, Children: William Joseph 9yrs, Agnes 7 yrs, plus 1 female name unknown, Registered by E Kavanagh (Brother in Law), Reg: East Murchison death cert 1618/1903, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette 21 May 1903, page 2
Shocking Burning Fatality – Dog by his side
A shocking burning fatality occurred at Kathleen Valley on Tuesday night when a bough shed, in which were a couple of tents, occupied by two men named William Nelson and Edward Freer, employed at the Yellow Aster mine, caught fire, burning the first named to death, and severely injuring the latter. It appears that Freer awoke during the night and found that one corner of the shed was on fire. He immediately jumped up and called to Nelson of the danger, and then must have been overcome by the smoke as he was seen lying inside the door of the shed by a man named Burkitt, who, noticing the blaze, had run to the spot.
With difficulty Burkitt pulled Freer out of danger, but any attempt to rescue Nelson was out of the question as the shed was enveloped in flames, Nelson must have heard Freer’s call and made a try to get out through a small opening in one corner of the shed, when the fire burnt down, the body was seen to be lying over the the line of the wall of the bough shed. When pulled away from the debris the body was blazing and water had to be thrown over it. An arm and a leg were completely burnt off and the body all charred. The remains of Nelson’s dog was found lying alongside those of it master. Freer’s condition, though bad, is not regarded as serious. The origin of the fire cannot be traced. Burkitt. deserves high credit for bis prompt and game action, and be was, without doubt, the means of averting a double fatality.
STURROCK Robert – d 24 Feb 1905, 76yrs, Occ: Mine Owner, Cause: Cancer of the stomach, Born: 1832 in Dundee, Angus, Scotland, Father: George STURROCK Snr, Mother: Christina MacINTOSH, Married Mary Leonard in 1863 in Victoria, Children: Grace born 1864, Robert Jnr born 1866, John born 1868, Francis born 1872, Joseph born 1875, Ignatius Gerald born 1878, Evelyn Victoria born 1881, In WA 11yrs Registered by James O’Neill (Friend), Reg East Murchison 4/1905, RC, Buried in Kathleen Valley Cemetery.
Note: Robert’s sons Francis and Gerald ran a 10 head battery at Kathleen Valley with Edward Coffey.
Moya Sharp
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