In Coolgardie, as late as April 1894, self-styled undertakers were making a fortune by making coffins from old jam cases and boxes and blackening them over to give a semblance of respectability. Only the destitute and friendless were packed away in plain deal coffins, and Jews whose religion demanded austerity in their last rites. By […]
Harold A S Cocking – pioneer profile
20/11/2021 By Leave a Comment
Southern Cross Times – Christmas Eve – 24 December 1904, page 25 Harold Cocking A Plucky Pioneer Mr. Harold Arundle Sidney Cocking was born at Latchley near Plymouth, Devon, England, and is a typical son of an English yeoman. It is slightly over 13 years since he landed in the West, and was extremely surprised to find that […]
The Fightin’ Man by N E Gledhill
13/11/2021 By Leave a Comment
This ‘Ripping Yarn’ from the pen of N E Gledhill is kindly shared by his Great Nephew Allen Gledhill with thanks: The Fightin Man Dave was old when I first met him – or should I say aged! Like a mountain tree ages, weather-beaten, gnarled, and brown, but standing straight and sturdy against the years. […]
Dead Man Rocks – the Murder of Phil Mack
13/11/2021 By Leave a Comment
Western Mail 16 December 1937, page 11 The Murder of Phil Mack DEAR “Non-Com.”-I am indebted to an old-timer and friend of South Guildford, Mr. W. E. Routledge, for sending me “The Western Mail”, and I always read with interest the Dolly Pot. One sees some glaring inaccuracies of early day events, but this can […]
Damper and Dog-
13/11/2021 By Leave a Comment
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 […]
