Oh who could paint a Goldfield – Henry lawson

This is a favorite of mine, especially the first two lines, to me, they are evocative of the spirit of the Goldfields: Oh! Who could paint a Goldfields and paint the picture right? As old adventurers saw it in early morning light. The yellow mounds of mullock with spots of red and white The scattered […]

The Gaston Family from Marjory Burton

I was recently sent some interesting information and photographs on the Gaston family from Marjory Burton. Her Gt Grandfather was George Gaston. The Gastons originally came from South Australia and before that from Sussex, England. They were Charles Gaston and his wife Rebecca nee Burfield. Their son George Gaston and his wife Ann Cicely nee […]

The Matron and the Major – Nurse Annie Jones

In early 1896 Annie Jones from Bendigo Victoria was nursing in the Government hospital at Cue, Western Australia.  While she was recovering from a mild form of typhoid fever, word came by camel train that Mr. Magnus Maxton Calder, a member of the firm Calder & Co of Cue, was suffering from typhoid fever in […]

First Female Police Officer – Helen Dugdale

There are many ‘Firsts’ that have occurred in the Goldfields and one of them is that we had the first female police officer, Helen Blanche Dugdale who was appointed from Kalgoorlie. The Police Historical Society have recognised the contribution of Helen Dugdale and in 2006 the Goldfields Family History Society had a plaque placed on […]

Bridget Delia OATES – grave tales

The following photograph is of the headstone and grave of Bridget Delia Oates, who was the beloved wife of Richard Knight Oates, born in County Clare Ireland on 28 Jan 1873. She died at Kalgoorlie on the 17th Sep 1909 aged 37 years. This photograph was taken just after the headstone, ledger, and grave fencing […]