George Jessop – grave tales

George Augustus Jessop was born on 2 April 1872 in Kilmore, Victoria. He was the son of George Jessop (1847-1898) and Mary nee Deane (1844-1876).  he was the middle child of three born to the couple with an older brother Thomas James and a younger sister Ellen Agnes.  George’s mother died when he was four […]

Sailor Bill’s Elopement –

The Sun Kalgoorlie 22 September 1907, page 6 THE ROARING NINETIES A BULLA BULLING ROMANCE SAILOR BILL’S ELOPEMENT (By Spinifex). Many of the boys of the old brigade have disappeared. They were a roving lot, and when the share boom collapsed in ’97, and the demand for “properties” had petered out, they booked for various […]

Black Flag – ghost town

BLACK FLAG R H Henning and party pegged the Black Flag lease which in October 1894 was reported to be ‘doing very well.’ The property was sold the following year to Lord Sudley’s syndicate for £48,000. By this time men were opening up their claims, many with good results. In December of the following year, […]

Uren Golden Wedding

Western Mail 1 October 1915, page 7 A Golden Wedding On Saturday, September 18, Mr and Mrs Uren, of Kelmscott, celebrated their golden wedding in the presence of all their, children and grandchildren, numbering 25. Mr and Mrs Uren arrived in South Australia from Cornwall in December 1865, and went first to Kapunda, a copper […]

Tom Riseley – a man who blazed the track

Sunday Times – 16 January 1910, page 3 THE DEATH OF TOM RISELEY A MAN WHO BLAZED THE TRACK Tom Riseley (Thomas Randle Riseley) one of the men who helped materially to make Westralia what she is today, went on the last “long journey” from the Perth Government Hospital on Thursday night. Twenty-one years before, […]