Kalgoorlie Miner 7th September 1938 The First White Woman in Boulder City! This photograph shows Mrs Edith Mar Elizabeth Wallis as a teacher at the first school in Boulder. Her daughter Maude (age 6) is on the far left in the front row and her son Alf (age 8) is fifth from the left in […]
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
Madame Eugene Vauthier
Thur 26th Dec 1935 Kalgoorlie Miner CENTENARIAN DIES – Nurse in Franco-Prussian War This photograph was taken a fortnight before Eugenie Vauthier broke her leg and entered hospital. It shows her with Jack Frost, an old prospector who regarded her as his mother and took care of her. The dog is Marshall, a great pal […]
Rampollini’s Piggery – Burra Rocks
At the bottom of the wall of the Burra Rocks Dam a large galvanised two inch pipe protrudes. It is known that Benny Rampolini, an ex woodliner, had a piggery here in the 1970’s and he had about six pigs. The pipe weas to provide water for the piggery. A stone wall had been constructed […]
My Dear Annie – Missingham letters – 1
David Missingham was born in 1855 in Kiama New South Wales. He was a mining Engineer and Mayor of Charters Towers in 1893. In 1897 he traveled to Western Australia, arriving before his family. He sent many letters back to his wife Annie and their eight children. One of his children, Hal Missingham, was to […]
The Publican and The Pig – Coolgardie 1905
‘The Sun’ newspaper April 1905 Coolgardie Paddy Murphy ran a ‘Shypoo’ (sly grog) ranch unbeknownst to the authorities. His establishment was always identified by Paddy’s favorite pet pig. Paddy could not read or write nor could his wife Bridget. Their system of accounting didn’t apply the rules of double entry it answered all practical […]