The ‘Devil’s Luck’ Written For ‘The Worker’ By J.N. He was a most unlucky fellow! Everything he touched ended in failure. Did he buy scrip? The mine was sure to turn out a duffer. Did he sell? The claim was sure to turn up trumps. He had the luck of the devil, and so his […]
Yerilla – from gold to gems
12/04/2025 By 1 Comment
Yerilla (Aboriginal name for white Quartz) Latitude: 29 29 S Longitude: 121 50 E Yerilla is an abandoned goldfields townsite located 105 km east northeast of Menzies and 37 km southeast of Kookynie. Gold was discovered in the area in the mid 1890’s, and the miners soon formed a progress committee, and in 1896 requested […]
The Spirit of the Fields –
29/03/2025 By 6 Comments
The Spirit of the Fields by Suter Abis On a stifling summer afternoon in 1910, a mournful procession crept down Hack Street in Sandstone, a small outpost clinging to the edge of the Western Australian scrub. It was a pitiful sight: a spring cart so dilapidated its wheels—lashed together with chaff bags and fencing wire—threatened […]
Death of a Desperate Man –
29/03/2025 By Leave a Comment
Munarra Gully is located 52 kilometres from Meekatharra, close to Tuckanarra. On the old Munarra Station (now Byro Station), three graves rest within a fenced, ungazetted burial ground. Among them lies Michael Koningas, Suig AH, a labourer who passed away from natural causes on May 9, 1904, along with one unidentified individual. Michael KONINGAS Cause […]
Water, Water Nowhere – and not a drop to drink
29/03/2025 By Leave a Comment
Water was the great leveller. Everyone needed it, young or old, rich or poor. Many a venture has failed through lack of water, and many a life has ended through lack of, or too much of it. In the early gold rush days, it was often safer to drink whiskey than water that could be […]
