What did become of Charley Nalty, winner of the Coolgardie Westral Wheel Race 1902? Time has not made my memories of him faulty, but my how the quickening years do accrue. Charley, grey haired, old to young eyes, every few years would speak at our school, grant a half holiday – nice surprise! – while […]
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
Gullewa – a ghost town
01/06/2019 By 2 Comments
Latitude 28° 40′ S Longitude 116° 19′ E Gullewa is a town site in the Yalgoo goldfield, about 160 km east of Geraldton. Gold was discovered here in 1894 by an Irishman, Jim Byrne and his partner Gray. Within days they were followed by the Criddle Brother who staked a nearby claim. The area was […]
Kalgoorlie Hospital Admission Records
31/05/2019 By 14 Comments
Back in 2005, one of the members of the Goldfields Family History Society who worked at the Kalgoorlie Hospital, told us that all of the original admission registers from the very first days of the Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital were still stored in their records storage. We asked if we could view the records and when […]
Armless Abraham:
26/05/2019 By 2 Comments
I am sure many of you will recognise this iconic photograph of an armless man called ‘Armless Abraham’ collecting wood with his goat cart. I have just been contacted by the Great Granddaughter of Thomas Abraham and this is what she tells me:- HISTORY OF THOMAS ABRAHAM Thomas Abraham was my Great Grandfather (Lynne McMeekin). […]
The Great Boulder Disaster of 1904
25/05/2019 By 2 Comments
THE GREAT BOULDER DISASTER. FUNERAL OF THE VICTIMS, HOW THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED. THE ENGINE DRIVER’S ACCOUNT. A great deal has been written, both in the newspapers of the day and since, on the terrible tragedy of ‘The Great Boulder Disaster’ on May 25th 1904. It would be the greatest number of fatalities in one accident that […]
