The Story of the Murchison-part 1

As told by the nephew of the Late J C Peterkin, also called J C Peterkin, in Perth, in March 1946. About the years 1889-1890, Gilles MacPherson and J C Peterkin met in Perth. Both were old Kimberley and Queensland prospectors, they had known each other for a long time but had never actually worked […]

A Memorial Unearthed – grave tales

An interesting tale about a grave in the Boulder cemetery. I was contacted some time ago by Peter Huntly, a relative of Annie Bell who died at the Kalgoorlie Hospital on the 24th Oct 1909, and was subsequently buried in the Boulder Cemetery on the 29th of October 1909. Peter had already seen a photo […]

A Dastardly Deed in Lefroy Street

Coolgardie Miner 28 December 1897, page 5 SENSATIONAL SHOOTING. Attempted Murder by Four Armed Men A party of shop workers was held up in Forrest Street Coolgardie by two armed and masked men. There is so far no known motive for the dastardly crime and no arrests have been made. The police are baffled. One […]

A Pioneer Remembers – Charlie Counsel

Daily News 2 February 1935, page 13 Pilbarra Shows the Way to the Gold Rushes Pioneer Recounts his Romantic Story By ‘Westerner’ A man who went to the Kimberleys and its goldfields in 1887, and on the morning of his 21st birthday was doing the last 18 miles of a 300-mile walk with his swag […]

Damper and Dog

The early miners’ staple diet consisted of ‘Damper and Tinned Dog’, washed down by the inevitable mug of black tea – a meal sufficiently filling to satisfy the cravings of appetites blunted by protracted periods of roughing it in the bush. Apparently, tinned meat, or tinned dog as it was mainly called, must have agreed […]