Barrambie, is located 116 km southeast of Meekatharra and 75 km northwest of Sandstone.
Of all the small satellite towns surrounding Sandstone, Barrambie was the one that has had, right up to the present time, the most constant stream of prospectors and miners working the shows in that vicinity. In June of 1905, there was a report of a new find at Barrambie, a new field approximately 40 miles south of Sandstone and about 80 miles east of Cue. This new field was to use Cue as its centre for the first seven years of its existence and was included in the Murchison Goldfields when Sandstone was still included in the Coolgardie Goldfields.
The Australian Sketchbook – by S T Gill
The town may also be to blame for a plague of rabbits infesting the state. These had been released in Victoria and quickly bred to plague proportions, eating everything in their path as they moved across Australia. In an attempt to protect Western Australia from the onslaught, a rabbit-proof fence was built. A fence worker digging a post-hole between the 283 and 284-mile posts on the fence at Barrambie, discovered gold, and virtually all the workers abandoned the project to prospect. The fence was eventually completed and the shanty town of Barrambie grew next to it. Residents would leave the gates open so rabbits could be more easily gathered on the Western Australian side for food. It was all the invitation the vermin needed and the rest of southern Western Australia was infested with pests, which are still an environmental problem in the country to this day.
Before very long, a hotel was started up, which was run by Dolly Wilson, and there was soon other business serving the population’s needs. One of the first leases at Barrambie was the Golden Treasure lease, which was sold to a Victorian syndicate for £5,000 in September of 1905. The main shaft of the Golden Treasure Mine was reported to be down 150 feet in 1906, which made it a mine of some substance.
In Feb of 1906 the following report was featured in the annual periodical ‘The Golden West’.
‘Barrambie was the most important find made during the year (1905) on the Murchison field. The field is 80 miles east of Cue and there is a lot of prospecting going on. Some specimens brought from the centre were exceptionally rich. The reef can be traced for many miles, running North and South. Nearby, at Erroll’s, another new discovery and 12 miles from Barrambie, several leases have been taken up.’
By December of 1906, it was reported that there were thirty men at Barrambie, a field said to be living on ‘the output of the dolly pot’ as at that time there was no other way for them to get their gold from the rock. A ten-head stamp battery was erected by the Barrambie Range Gold Mine which made it much easier for the prospectors, as up until that time, the nearest battery was at Cue, some 80 miles away.
The Barrambie townsite had developed as the mines were opened up, it was a collection of shanties. The general impression from various newspaper articles is that
Barrambie was the ‘wild’ in the wild west.
In 1907 there was an attempted murder of a miner. The underground mine manager at Barrambie Range Mine in 1908 was accused of attacking an employee breaking his shoulder and two ribs. The same year a miner died in the Nannine hospital after being attacked in the town.
A hotel was opened at Barrambie in January 1907 but closed a year later. In a bankruptcy hearing, the proprietor described Barrambie as a very rough place with the hotel at times resembling a lunatic asylum. There was also a lot of sly grog being sold and drunken mobs would at times take over the hotel smashing the furniture.
Half the men were replaced each pay day at the Barrambie Range Mine as they were drunk and not turning up for work.
In 1907 several people were convicted of selling sly grog in the town, the convictions coming as the result of an informant. A lynch mob was organised. Under police escort, a lady with the unlikely name of Florodora, accused of selling alcohol was the first to reach him. A newspaper report states:
The irate lady gave striking evidence of her antipathy towards the informer per medium of umbrella and stones.
In this, she was joined by (the appropriately named) Mrs Savage who lent her vigorous assistance. Outside court later on, it continued, prodding the infomrant vigorously on the ribs with their serviceable brollys, varying the fun by occasionally whacking him on the head and other parts of his anatomy. Florodora was subsequently locked up and went to jail. Her shanty was set alight and burnt down while she was ‘doing time’.
In 1908 the mine was taken over by Messrs Sanderson, Buss, Hopkins & Co. Records for the mine show that between November 1907 and January 1908, less than three months, they had recovered 2199 ounces of gold from 1931 tons of ore. The battery was to operate until August 1911 when it was put up for sale. From then on all ore had to be carted to Cue at a cost of £5 per ton. However, in 1912, a road was constructed between Barrambie and Waukenjerrie and then connected to Sandstone. By the end of that year, the residents of Barrambie had requested a bi-weekly mail service.
From the 1st January 1913, it was announced that Barrambie would now be included in the East Murchison Goldfield instead of the Murchison Goldfield as it had before. This would enable prospectors to lodge their claims with the Registrar at Sandstone. Paddy Lawler, who in 1912 was an old man and who the town of Lawlers was named after, lived and prospected in the area. He was ill during this year and spent some time in the Sandstone Hospital.
Geraldton Express and Murchison and Yalgoo Goldfields Chronicler 26 March 1897, page 37
Bill Bennett was a cabinet maker before coming to the Sandstone area and he used the local mulga wood to make beautiful trinket boxes. He would cure the wood in the caves at the Breakaway at Barrambie. One day while pitching his camp he found a cache of rich gold specimens hidden in the trunk of a hollow Gidgee tree, no doubt hidden by someone in years past. Gold stealing was commonplace among the Barrambie GM employees and it was thought that whoever had hidden the gold had either forgotten where he had put it or he had come to a sticky end before he could reclaim it.
Vin Atkinson spent most of his adult life in the Sandstone area where he was a prospector, miner, mine owner, and station owner/grazier (Barrambie Station). He was however to become famous, when in 1914, at the age of 10 yrs he committed an act of extreme bravery which attracted the notice of the nation. here is his story:-
The following are some of the names of the residents at Barrambie from the WA Post Office Directories from 1908- 1916 :
ALDRIDGE/ALDRIDGE W N – Mine manager 1908
ALDRICK Frederick W – Butcher & Store 1912
ALLAN Louise 1912-16
ANDERSON Robert – Leaseholder 1916
BELL Alfred 1908
BENDER T – Butcher 1910
BOSTON Charles – Cyanider 1916
CURRIE Robert 1912-16
COWAN J 1916
FLETCHER James – Blacksmith 1908-14
FRASER James, – Accountant and Mail receiver 1908
GROSE William V – Construction 1910-1916
HANLON Christopher – Mine Manager 1912-16
JARDINE Frank – Leaseholder 1916
KRUG Con – Leaseholder 1908
LAWLER Paddy 1912
LOGAN William R – Leaseholder 1916
LUPTON and OBRIEN – Leaseholder 1908-14
MCKELLAR Frank – Contractor 1912
PRIDEAUX W – Assayer 1908
RAMSLEY Charles – Newsagent 1908
SAVAGE Mrs – Boarding House Keeper 1908
SMITH Alfred and Albert 1910
STEVENS Samuel – Mine Owner 1912-16
STREETON William S – Leaseholder 1916
THICK Thomas – Boarding House Keeper 1908
THOMAS Henry – Leaseholder 1908
VALE C 1910
WILSON Mrs S, -Barrambie Hotel 1912
WOINAR Anthony & Annie – Store, Baker and Boarding House Keeper 1908-1914
YELLAND John – Mine Manager 1908
Anthony and Annie Woinar in their boarding house 1910 – Photo Moya Sharp
Men were tough in those days and as one story goes. A man who thought he had a sprained ankle at Barrambie became worried when it wasn’t getting better. He was transported 50 miles to the Sandstone Hospital with his leg encased in a bag of chaff to lessen the jolting. It was found that he had fractured both bones in his lower leg. The leg was set and he returned to his place of work.
From 1913 onward, Barrambie as a township slowly faded away, the little town had outlived its usefulness. The area continued to be mined in a small way up to the 1950-60s. The ore from Barrambie was also rich in copper sulfate which was used in fertilizer. In 1970 there was also extensive exploratory work done for the valuable mineral vanadium, which is being mined today.
Barrambie Cemetery: on the Cogla Station. (Latitude 27°25’914”S Longitude 119°07’058”E)
Reserve No 11677 Kaluwiri Location. There are only three burials recorded.
DESMOND Margaret — d 12 Sep 1908, 39yrs, died of natural causes, buried by Police constable William Grose, an officer in charge of the Bramabie Police Station (1908-1911). She was the first person to be buried in the Barrambie Cemetery and it was thought she was married to a man named McBEAN.
DOWNARD William Henry, — d 22 Sep 1923, 54yrs, at the old Barambie GM near Sandstone. A prospector who was accidentally killed by a fall of stone. He was born in 1869 in England and had lived in Western Australia for 20yrs, Reg 3/1923 Black Range.
The Daily News, Sat 29 Sep 1923
GARDENER Frank, d 7 Aug 1910, 28yrs, at the Barrambie GM on Cogla Station. He was an Engine Fitter who was killed when he was being lowered down the mine shaft. He is the only grave to have a memorial in the form of a shovel head with his name stamped out with a chisel.
Frank Gardner – Barrambie Cemetery
Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette – 21 July 1910, page 4
The Barrambie Fatality
The inquiry into the circumstances connected with the death of Frank Gardiner, who was killed by falling down a shaft at Barrambie, was held on July 9, before the Acting Coroner, Mr Neil Odder, and a jury consisting of Messrs. S. Stevens, C. Lupton, and A. J. Corin. Christopher Hanlon, general manager of the Barrambie Gold Mine, said that the deceased was in the employ of the company. On July 7 he descended the shaft to effect some repairs to the pump. In about ten minutes he signalled to be raised to the surface, and when about 40ft. from the surface he fell from the boatswain’s chair, in which he was seated.
A man named Krug immediately descended the shaft and shortly afterwards informed witnesses he had found Gardiner’s apparently lifeless body at the bottom. Subsequently, the body was brought to the surface. The deceased had been instructed by the witness not to leave the chair, or remove the safety rope from under his arms. The witness did not think the temperature in the shaft was too hot. He had never been to the bottom of the shaft. The deceased had worked in the shaft on the previous day, and was satisfied with the conditions, Air was conveyed to the place where he was working by means of a blower, which was kept working continuously when men were below. Gardiner was strapped to the chair to prevent his falling out. When the chair was brought to the surface after the accident the strap was unbuckled,
The deceased must have fallen a distance of 80ft. Witness did not know whether the deceased had had the experience of working in shafts, but he appeared to know his work. So far as the witness knew the deceased was a sober man, The exhaust going into the water would slightly increase the temperature, but he did not think it was hot enough.
Conrad Krug gave evidence of finding the body at the bottom of the shaft, He said he had worked in the shaft on the previous day, and considered it was safe to do so for 15 or 20 minutes when the blower was working. It is too warm to stay down longer than 20 minutes at a time The exhaust goes into the well, which is sunk in lime country, and in the witness’s opinion, this would cause heat. The water in the well was slightly hot. The strap was unbuckled when the chair reached the surface.
Eugene O’Connell said he saw the deceased leave the surface firmly strapped in the chair. He was working the blower, pumping down. The manager was driving the winch when the accident occurred. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased met his death by falling out of a boatswain’s chair whilst being raised to the surface; also that they were of the opinion that had the manager’s instructions regarding the body strap been complied with the accident might not have occurred. The jury added a rider that the were of the opinion that the shaft where the accident occurred is too hot to work in. The jury also expressed their opinion that the action of Conrad Krug. in rescuing the body of the deceased from the shaft after the accident, is worthy of the highest appreciation.
References:-
Lonely Graves of Western Australia – Yvonne and Kevin Coate
From Gold to Wool and Back Again – Sally Senior
Mindat.org
WA Post Office Directories.
www.wavmm.com
www.trove.nla.gov.au
Moya Sharp
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