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 One Armed Cameleer – Murderer or Madman ?

From the Sunday Times 11th May 1941:- A Tragedy Recalled Elderly, venerable, Said Mahomet Yar first spread his praying mat and commenced his morning with Allah then rolled and strapped his blankets and dismantled his self made wind sheet. Before continuing his journey he carefully counted the contents of two leather pouches which swung at […]

Typhoid : digging for gold often ended in digging a grave

Typhoid Lives on the waterless goldfields were lost not only from thirst alone but also from typhoid. In the 1890s, typhoid was endemic throughout Australia. It struck at Perth, Western Australia’s capital itself, in established outlying centres such as Northam and at temporary townships on the road to the goldfields such as Woolgangie. But the lack […]

A Remarkable Operation:

Sunday Times : 22 March 1914, page 11 At St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London- A Large Cube of Rock Extracted from the Left Eye The complete story of a remarkable recovery from a serious mining accident as a result of an operation at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, which attracted some attention in the English press, and […]

A High time in the Old Town –

Coolgardie was booming, diggers who had struck it rich were as common as sand flies; money was easy to come by and even easier to lose. If you wanted to part with what you had in a hurry, ‘Hughie the Baker’ or ‘Handsome Jack Wilson’, the towns leading professional gamblers would assist you in your […]

Family History Discovery Days:

To celebrate Family History Month in August, the Latter Day Saints Church will be holding a discovery event from 9th to the 11th August at the church at 118 Egan Street, Kalgoorlie.