Where was Birrigrin – ghost towns

Latitude and Longitude – 27° 30′ 14” South , 119° 31′ 13” East Birrigrin is 120 km from Wiluna and is in the Black Range District near Sandstone. It was known in the early days as the ’50 Mile’ as it was about 50 miles from Nungarra. The main mining in the district is gold […]

Cess, the hermit of Oobagooma:

CESS RODERICK, OOBAGOOMA, KIMBERLEY ‘TIL SHE DROPPED HER STRIDES’ This story is an extract from the book “‘Til She Dropped Her Strides” by Roger Garwood and Trish Ainslie published in 1991. The book was one of a series which documented the traditional lifestyles in the Australian outback which were under threat from an increasingly modernised […]

Will Kanowna Live Again?

Mirror (Perth) 15 September 1934 KANOWNA ONCE BOASTED TWENTY HOTELS! Kanowna Shows Signs of Big Recovery Hectic Days of White Feather Golden Valley Recalled If you take the Kanowna road out of Kalgoorlie, you will travel for some 12 miles parallel with the formation of what was once a busy railway, to the remains of […]

Our Late Beloved Son – grave tales

Kalgoorlie Miner 12th Feb 1925 BROWN — The friends of Mr and Mrs J. H. Brown and family are respectfully invited to follow the remains of their late beloved son and brother respectively, George Brown (formerly of the Midland workshops) to the Church of Christ portion of the Kalgoorlie Cemetery. The funeral will leave their […]

The Tangled web of “Burly Bill” Lucas –

William “Burly Bill” Lucas (1852-1904) a family story. The following story has been most carefully researched, not withstanding the complications. John Fripp, who has very kindly shared this unusual family story was assisted by DNA tests as well as the usual research methods. William Lucas must have been a very hansom figure of a man, […]