The Goldfields Cycle Express History by Gary Cowans The Coolgardie Cycle Express, a pioneering mail service on the goldfields before telegraphy, thrived on swift desert deliveries but succumbed to competition and changing technology, leaving behind colourful camel-stamped memories. Coolgardie Cycle Express Co. was a delivery service that began with a mail delivery from Coolgardie to […]
Mudgedeen – Cameleer and Grocer
06/01/2024 By 2 Comments
The following photographs from the family album of Carole Hampton were sent to me recently. Mudgedeen was her husband’s Grandfather. Her husband is the son of Mudgedeen and Clara’s daughter Violet, from her second marriage. Mudgedeen, (AKA Charles), was born in 1873 in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, the son of M Barradeen. He married Clara Ellen […]
The Story of a Daring Coward –
30/12/2023 By 1 Comment
Sunday Times Perth 31 January 1909, page 1 Have you 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 […]
A Lost and Desolate Wanderer –
23/12/2023 By 1 Comment
Evening Journal, Adelaide, 30 January 1894 A Terrible Experience at Coolgardie. A well-known and respected resident of Kent Town, South Australia, has received a letter from his son, who recently went to Coolgardie from Adelaide, from which the following is extracted : On December 24 and 25 1893 (Merry Christmas Day!) I was dying, a […]
Hinde’s Cash Chemist – grave tales
09/12/2023 By Leave a Comment
I was recently sent this wonderful photograph of John Lord Hinde’s Chemist shop in Coolgardie by Nanette Danks who tells me: My great-grandparents arrived in Coolgardie, I presume about 1894. The family legend is that Daisy Hinde (Alice Georgina, actually) was the eighth woman on the goldfields and Beryl was the only child for a […]
