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 […]
When the Law came to Niagara –
Smith’s Weekly 26 November 1927 by John Drayton How “Justice” was served out on the Goldfields. Niagara was one of the little towns worth a column in the W.A. Post Office Directory of 1899 following Bob Menzie’s strike in September 1894. The town’s life was short, but while it was alive, it ‘LIVED’. Menzies find […]
Constable Edward Tindall – grave tales
Death from Typhoid Fever was common around the turn of the 19th century. Many of the victims were fit young men who could succumb to the disease and perish very quickly as this story of a young Police Constable, who had been on the Goldfields less than 6 months, will tell. The following is an […]
The Prison Log and “Sky Blue Goannas”
In the early days of Coolgardie, there was no provision for holding prisoners pending their appearance in court, so Corporal McCarthy chopped a four-foot log from a three-foot thick trunk of a blown down salmon gum to which they were chained by a strong steel staple at one end and handcuffs at the other. (A […]
The Black Tracker – a verse
The Black Tracker Swart bloodhounds of the fenceless West, Black gallopers that lead the Law, To whom your victims stand confessed By every lightest line they draw; The hawks that high above you sail Have eyes less keen to pierce the blue, The dingo on his hunting trail Runs slacker in the chase than you! […]