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

Commemorating the 125th Anniversary of Coolgardie -a verse

author: tony mate bozich the track I walk along the beaten track to old Coolgardie town where pioneers trudged in earliest days with grim but hopeful frown, the asphalt whispers, murmurs low, my mind is all unhearing, I think about the men who slogged through bush and heat all searing. ****** the discovery of Coolgardie […]

Coolgardie – The Hall Family,early days

The following collection of photographs are reproduced with the kind permission of Marshall Hall and Family. In his words:- ‘Charles FitzJohn Hall was the main produce merchant in Coolgardie from 1896-1918. Prior to this he made his money in gold diggings. He saw the need to supply the fields with goods and produce and he […]

Old Age and Youth – Darlot Divorce

We often think that family law matters didn’t go to court in the early days but this unusual story shows that matters could still be most complicated and acrimonious:- Leonora Miner (WA : 1910 – 1928), Saturday 6 August 1927, page 3 Old Age and Youth.   –     WIFE OF 39yrs SUES HUSBAND […]

A Deadly Epidemic – Leonora update

Fevers and flu were common, mostly caused by poor sanitation and cross infection, and, until the arrival of antibiotics in 1945, pneumonia was often a fatal disease. In May 1919, an Italian miner called Luigi Morelli, contracted ‘broncho pneumonia influenza and died within six days. Eight more cases were diagnosed in rapid succession. The Public Health […]

Did she fall or was she pushed? – Annie Solly

Life for a single woman on the Goldfields of Western Australia could be very hard. Annie Solly seems to have been a young woman who could look after herself and she appeared in the newspapers several times for things such as drunk and disorderly. On New Years Day 1902 she was arrested and charged 10 […]