The Bardoc Murder

In a post I did a few days ago about a lonely grave of Katherine Williamson at Bardoc I mentioned that there was the victim of a murder buried not far from her. The grave of the victim of the unsolved Bardoc murder is on the bank of the creek leading down from Lindsay’s Soak […]

The Man they Bathed in Beer

The Countryman 16th Oct 1958 – ARTHUR BENNETT. Bill Faahan’s name creeps into most stories of early Coolgardie days. Bill ran the Club Hotel, he was the town’s mayor in its heyday, and he was known to every prospector east of Southern Cross. One of his many yardmen was a runaway sailor from a ship […]

The Matron and the Major – Nurse Annie Jones

In early 1896 Annie Jones from Bendigo Victoria, was nursing in the Government hospital at Cue, Western Australia.  While she was recovering from a mild form of typhoid fever, word came by camel train that Mr Magnus Maxton Calder, a member of the firm Calder & Co of Cue, was suffering from typhoid fever in […]

Menzies to Kalgoorlie Bike Race – 1930

Australia’s Richest Handicap Cycle Race Cycling has been part of the Goldfields since the courier cyclist in the 1890’s carried messages around the Goldfields before the telegraph line came to the region. This year’s Minara Resources Goldfields Cyclassic will continue as a two-stage handicap race across the rich and historic landscape of the Western Australian outback from Kalgoorlie-Boulder to Menzies […]

Water Rations for Gold Miners

This is typical of the scenes at many mines in WA’s eastern goldfields. At the time this photograph was taken – water rations were connected with employment conditions at many mines. Workers on some goldfields were entitled to condensed water as part of their wages, receiving 2 or 4 gallons (9 or 18 L) per […]