Towns and places

The Eastern Goldfields is made up of hundred towns both big and small. Outback Family History would like to bring you a collection of stories about some of these abandoned towns which you may never have heard of. Some may only have been there for a few years and now very little remains of the small thriving communities.

The Bulletin Hotel – by Henry Lawson

I was drifting in the drizzle past the Cecil in the Strand Which, I’m told is very tony – and its front looks very grand And somehow fell a-thinking of a pub I know so well Of a place in West Australia called The Bulletin Hotel Just a little six-room shanty built of corrugated tin […]

Merchants -v- Miners ‘when theres a gold rush, sell shovels!’

“When there is a gold rush, ‘Sell Shovel’s’ was a term coined in the California Gold Rushes but it can be said to be true of the Gold Rushes in Australia. Many merchants selling everything from mining equipment to ribbons made more money that most miners ever dreamed of. The following is a snapshot of […]

Hotels of the Goldfields A-B

The following Goldfields Hotels now have photographs and information on the Outback Family History Web Site:- @  http://bit.ly/2ibV2RM Abbotts – Near Meekatharra Annaconda – 45kms East of Leonora Balagundi – Along the Bulong Road Ballangarry – Near Darlot Big Bell – Near Cue Bullabulling – on the Coolgardie Road Broad Arrow (Kurawa)  x 9 Balgarri […]

Heres’ to you Mrs Robinson – A pioneering woman

This photograph was taken at Lake View Consoles GM in Kalgoorlie in 1896. It shows a group of gold prospectors and miners, including adventurous natural-geologist and pioneering prospector Robert (‘Bobby’) Robinson and his wife, Annie, standing at the right of the group. Not many women are depicted in these early photographs, many choosing to stay […]

The Goldfields Woodlines

The development of the goldfields created an insatiable appetite for timber. A rapidly growing population soon began to wreak havoc on the environment. At first timber was cut for domestic use and to fuel the condensers supplying fresh water. However these needs were nothing compared to those of the big company mines. Vast quantities of timber […]