Philp & Royal – Pioneer Builders

The firm of Phil and Royal, Master Builders and Contractors, were located in Sylvester Street, Coolgardie (see map). They also had a factory in Cassidy Street, Kalgoorlie. In 1897, Phil and Royal were the builders for the Kalgoorlie Primary School and additions to the Kalgoorlie Post Office, which included, a mail room, a new despatch clerk’s room,money […]

A City Top on Talent – by John Terrell

Kalgoorlie-Boulder has much to feel proud about – apart its gold and the many sporting champions that it has produced over the past 125 years. The twin towns have also produced gems in many other walks of life, among them acclaimed international concert pianist Eileen Joyce, Nobel Prize laureate, Barry Marshall*, and no fewer than […]

Built on Gold – A history of Western Mining

A personal account of one of Australia’s best-known mining engineers. He writes about his early association with Gold Mines of Australia Limited, and the formation in 1933 of Western Mining Corporation Limited. The book recalls the exciting days of the finding and proving of bauxite deposits in the Darling range, the formation of Alcoa of […]

A Lost Glitter – book review

A Lost glitter : letters between South Australia and the Western Australian goldfields, 1895-1897 –   edited by Michael R. Best. A Lost Glitter is the most richly detailed first-hand account of goldfields’ life we have: The letters of the Deland family between the Western Australian goldfields and Gawler contrast the rumbustious, economically chancy, life of […]

Bailie Bros Union Bakery –

Weekly Times, Melbourne VIC, 10 September 1898 Bailie Bros Bakers    –      KALGOORLIE. The large business now being conducted by the Messrs Bailie Bros, at Kalgoorlie, affords a striking instance of the success which perseverance and hard work, added to personal popularity, can attain in a comparatively new gold mining town. Prior to […]