Several members of the McCormick family were to emigrate from South Australia to Western Australia in the late 1890’s but the most well know of them, was Arthur Patrick McCormick who was the inventor of the ‘Coolgardie Safe’. The following photographs are connected to this family but are also valuable in their own right, as few photographs remain of private homes in Coolgardie.
The Home of Harold McCormick (on right) and William George RENICK (left) Clifton St Coolgardie 1896.
A P McCormick
The invention of the Coolgardie Safe is credited to Arthur Patrick ‘Paddy”McCormick. In the last decade of the 19th century, Coolgardie was the capital of the West Australian goldfields. Being 180 kilometers from the nearest civilization, food supplies were initially scarce and expensive. As fresh food was a valuable commodity, there was incentive to preserve it and keep it out of reach of scavengers. It was in an effort to do this that McCormick came up with his design for the Coolgardie Safe. McCormick noticed that a wet bag placed over a bottle cooled its contents.
He further noted that if this bottle was placed in a draft, the bag would dry out more quickly, but the bottle would get colder. What McCormick had discovered was the principle of evaporation. Employing this principle, McCormick made a box for his provisions which he covered with a wet Hessian bag. He then placed a tray on top, into which he poured water twice daily. He hung strips of flannel from the tray so that water would drip down onto the Hessian bag, keeping it damp. McCormick’s safe was handmade using materials to hand.
Many other prospectors in the Coolgardie region copied the design. In the early 20th century, Coolgardie Safes were manufactured commercially across Australia, and found there way into homes in both rural and urban areas. These safes incorporated shelving and a door, had metal or wooden frames and Hessian bodies. The feet of the safe were usually placed in a tray of water to keep ants away.
The home of William George Rennick, Coolgardie 1896
Coolgardie 1896 Mrs Dorothy May Rennick and a friend child and dogs.
Coolgardie Tennis party 1895, Seated far left Dorothy May Rennick (nee McCormick), her husband George William Rennick standing far right.
Jack McCormick 3 Oct 1897 taken by Hemus and Hall Coolgardie
Other members of the McCormick family:-
Arthur Patrick ‘Paddy’ McCormick Clifton St Toorak, Business:- Shaw St Coolgardie – Mayor 1906-1908
Harold McCormick, Mining Agent Lindsay St, Coolgardie
Francis McCormick, Richards St West Toorak
Jack McCormick
Thomas Ernest McCormick, married Dorothy Harmstorf Coolgardie 1896
Margaret Elizabeth McCormick, married Thomas Francis McGauran Coolgardie 1902
Lawrance McCormick, married Caroline Ivey Coolgardie 1899
Charles Rennick, Legal Manager and Accountant Lindsay St, Coolgardie
William George, Rennick married Dorothy May McCormick
- Arthur Patrick McCormick (Although the first photo below is on the Shire of Narrogin website, I am not too sure about this photo if it is 20/30 years after avove photo.
- He was also the Mayor of Narrogin on the dates shown on the photo.
- He passed away on 1/08/1951 in Perth aged 80 years and lays at rest in Narrogin cemetery.
- He was married to Mary Ethelwyn McCormick (nee Swift) but I don’t know where and when.
- They also had a child named Arthur Harold who only lived 10 months and passed away on 8/03/1898, laying at rest in the Coolgardie Cemetery. Other children as shown in newspaper notice below.
- Mary Ethelwyn McCormick (nee Swift) passed away in Narrogin on 04/06/1932 and lays at rest in Narrogin cemetery.
Moya Sharp
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