The Quart-Pot and Billy-Can No utensil is so generally used in the bush as the billy-can; none is more widely distributed, none better known in Australia. It is cheap, light, useful, and a burden to no man. It goes with every traveller, it figures in comedy and tragedy and has been the repository of the […]
The people of the Goldfields
The Goldfields of Western Australia was and still is made up of many people, from poets to politicians, from saints and sinners and everything in between. I hope to tell you the stories of some of these people either famous or infamous or just the ordinary folks. Sometime the most ordinary people do the most extraordinry things
The McCann Hoax – burned in effigy
08/02/2025 By 1 Comment
Daily News 1 July 1895, page 5 COOLGARDIE NEWS: THE ALLEGED FIND AT LAKE COWAN. RETURN OF MR McCANN AS DELEGATE. FRUITLESS SEARCH FOR THE FIND. EXCITED MEETING IN BAYLEY-STREET – CHARGE AGAINST THE PRESS – THE COURIER OFFICE STONED.MR McCANN SMUGGLED AWAY – NOW UNDER POLICE PROTECTION – FURTHER TROUBLE EXPECTED COOLGARDIE, July 1 […]
Red Flannel Joe –
08/02/2025 By Leave a Comment
Western Mail – Perth – 28 February 1935, page 9 He is known as ‘Red Flannel Joe‘ throughout the district. He is old and somewhat pompous and lives in a tin hut in what was once the main street of this little nor-west town of Peak Hill. It’s almost deserted now, and Joe’s structure is […]
Billy ‘Cyclone’ Aitken – a man of many parts
01/02/2025 By 1 Comment
William ‘Billy’ Gaskell Aitken was Mayor of Coolgardie in 1906 and a councillor in the town prior to this. After his term of office, he was presented with an elaborate engraved and coloured citation to commemorate his service. It said: […]
Mount Jackson Cemetery – grave tales
01/02/2025 By Leave a Comment
MOUNT JACKSON CEMETERY 1896-1914 = 9 burials Coordinates: -30.20141, 119.11102 110 km from Southern Cross Mount Jackson was named by the explorer Gregory in 1846. A settlement developed in the Mt Jackson area after gold was found there in 1894. There were two hotels are the height of the gold rush period. Mt Jackson Station and homestead […]
