A Fatal Premonition – Michael Madden

I had been researching the accidental death of this miner because of an entry I found in the Annual Report from the Department of Mines for 1897 which stated, that a miner called ‘John Madden’ had been killed in an accident on the Goongarrie GM. As this name was not one I had listed I […]

The Doubly Deserted –

Western Mail 25 December 1905, page 10 The Doubly Deserted by Val Jameson Up in the heavens, a westering sun cast oblique rays, still fiercely hot, on the parched bush that stretched its shrivelled growth as far as the eye could see from the prospectors’ camp. Nearby, a windlass under a roof of boughs stood […]

A Man with a Famous Mate – William Cutmore

Back in 1998, I was in correspondence with a lady, Joanne Shumak, who I was assisting to look into the family history of her uncle, William Basham Cutmore, who, if not for a slip of fate, may be a name as familiar to the Goldfields as his famous mate Arthur Bayley. W. B. Cutmore was […]

THE LEGEND OF C.Y. O’CONNOR … and his golden pipeline

THE LEGEND OF C.Y. O’CONNOR … and his golden pipeline by John Terrell The following was a well-deserved Blue Ribbon winner by John Terrell at the Kununurra Agricultural Society’s annual show in July 2024 in the category of – Poetry and Prose – Yarn (max 900 words) theme ‘Water’. Water was the central issue in […]

Michael Tobin – a grave in the wilderness

  Michael TOBIN died on the 7th of April 1907 aged 33 years at Wadda Waddah Well or No 40 Well on the newly proposed stock route from the Kimberly called the Canning Stock Route. He was buried on a sandy ridge 250 metres from well No 40. His burial was confirmed by A G […]