from Allen Gledhill. John Gary’s great-nephew Claimed To Be Strongest Digger On three Fields “BURLY” McLEAN DROPS IN by John Gary They’re among the men who tell you that the gold rush days – the days of overnight fortunes, bare-knuckle fights, and chamois bags of gold are gone. Those days still live! They’re as rip-roaring […]
John H M Johannesen – grave tales
19/11/2022 By Leave a Comment
John Helge Martin Johannesen . He was born ion the 7th Dec 1866 in Frue Sogn, Aarhus, Denmark. He was the son of Carl Emil JOHANNESEN (1852-1953) and Sofie nee SVENSDATTER and was the oldest of 10 children to the couple. He died at the Coolgardie Government Hospital on the 12th October 1912 from Pulmonary […]
The Tobias Brothers –
18/11/2022 By Leave a Comment
Coolgardie Pioneer 11 December 1897, page 4 THE TOBIAS BROTHERS. We are herewith publishing a photo of one of the pioneer stores of the field — that of Tobias Brother. Starting in a small way at the lower end of Bayley Street in 1892 next to the Freemasons Hotel, they soon doubled their trade, and […]
Memories of Coolgardie and Wooroloo
05/11/2022 By Leave a Comment
I was recently contacted by Helena Britt who vary kindly shared with me a copy of a section of her mothes 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 […]
When there’s a Gold Rush ‘Sell Beer’
29/10/2022 By Leave a Comment
Coolgardie Pioneer 24 December 1898, page 38 THE MAYOR AND HIS ESTABLISHMENT “I don’t want no pioneering life, take me back to Collingwood.” This was the strain sung by an Eastern states poet who visited and was disgusted with these fields in the early days. Fortunately for the country, the majority of the old-timers, although […]
