I was contacted by Helena Britt, who very kindly shared with me a copy of a section of her mother’s memoirs. Her grandfather, Dr Robert Mitchell, was the first Chief Medical Officer at Coolgardie Hospital and the first Superintendent of Wooroloo Sanitorium. He was in this post until his retirement in 1941. Helena’s mother and […]
The Railway Chronicle: Tales from the Desert Echo
The “Desert Echo’ was a handwritten newspaper published by the workers employed on the Trans Australia Rail Line. It wasn’t possible for them to receive updates on contemporary news, so they made their own. This small document is an amazing snapshot of the everyday lives of the men who worked on this lonely and isolated […]
Thirst or Treachery? The Tragic Fate of Tom Cantwell
Thomas Cantwell Died of Thirst or Foul Play? The following item appeared in the local paper in Camblin, Roscrea, Co Tipperary, Ireland on the 24th Dec 1895: Perished between Norseman and Coolgardie Western Australia, supposed from thirst, Tom Cantwell (43 years), one of the best fellows who ever pulled off a shirt. Poor Tom was […]
Robert Andrew HAVLIN – grave tales
Robert Andrew HAVLIN was born in Bendigo, Victoria, on 8 October 1869. He was the youngest child of Patrick HAVLIN and Margaret EWINGS, both of whom were from Co Tyrone in Ireland. Robert married Emily ‘Emma’ Jane Pearce in Victoria, Australia, in 1894, and their first child, a daughter, Margaret Annie, born the same year, […]
Mick of the Murchison – ‘Doing Time’
Western Mail 8 July 1937, page 11 The Dolly Pot – Over the Plates. “Doing Time.” In Tuckanarra, a mining town about 25 miles north of Cue, there resided in the late 1800s a man named Mick. He was an excellent judge of a horse, a good rider and bushman, and knew to a penny […]
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