John Fitzpatrick – Written by Susie de Monchaux John “Fitz” Fitzpatrick ran a plumbing and ironwork business on the corner of Ford and Sylvester Street, Coolgardie from 1896 to 1900. Family legend tells that John Fitzpatrick was born in South Australia in 1861, however, it was in Western Australia where he made his life. He […]
Diver Hughes – The Hero of Coolgardie
Cecil Albert Francis Herbert ‘Frank’ HUGHES was born on 11th Nov 1861 in Wrexham, North Wales, and educated at Ruabon Grammar School, he was the eldest son of Thomas Edward HUGHES and Mary THOMAS. Frank showed early on that he was of a roving and adventurous disposition. To satisfy his strong desire to go to […]
Russian Jack – the other J F K
Dollypot, Greenhide and Spindrift: a journal of bush history Russian Jack and Synchronicity – by Diane Oldman I rather thought I had made up the word ‘synchronicity’ and when I attempted to look it up in several dictionaries I couldn’t find it. So I decided it was a new noun – my noun. Then […]
The Wood Trains of the17 Mile Camp
The wood trains of the 17 Mile Camp and Gindalbie Wood for the gold mines by Rod Milne The WAGR terminus at Kanowna dealt with a large tonnage of firewood traffic from the wood line, and these trucks are depicted standing in the middle roads between the station and overline goods shed. The WAGR allowed […]
Mrs Walshaw of Comet Vale:
Mrs Walshaw of Comet Vale Story and photos by Bernie Morris First Published in ‘The Westland’ 2005 For a few months in the year 1895, the terminus of the new railway thrusting east from Southern Cross to the twin Eldorado’s of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie stood at Boorabbin with strings of half-piled wagons, sullen afghans cruising […]