I first heard of this project through my friend and author Dr Criena Fitzgerald when she was contracted to work on this program due to her experience and previous work in the field of oral history. The web site was to be based on a similar site that was done for the Broken Hill district […]
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
Painless Haircuts – Murrin Murrin
11/01/2015 By Leave a Comment
T Roberts Hairdressing Saloon (not Salon) Hair Cut Painlessly, terms cash! I just love this photo. Taken at Murrin Murrin (between Leonora and Laverton),Western Australia. Is this a cunning advertising ploy or did some hair stylists really hurt? Perhaps he also sold alcohol (to numb the pain maybe) and […]
Not Just a Presidents Wife – Lou Henry Hoover
11/01/2015 By 4 Comments
Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States of America. There has been a great deal written about her husbands time on the Goldfields of Western Australia but very little has been told about his wifes achievements in her own right. During her time as ‘First […]
Goldfields Gallipoli Veteran – William John Rea (Ray) TONKIN
04/01/2015 By Leave a Comment
William John Rea (Ray) Tonkin was born on the 5th Feb 1895 in Bendigo Victoria but came to Kalgoorlie at a young age. He was a blacksmith and farrier by trade. He survived at Gallipoli and through WW1 and died 2nd Dec 1966 and is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery. WJRT was a Gallipoli veteran. […]
Ghost Towns – Gwalia and Big Bell
04/01/2015 By 5 Comments
Although Gwalia is deserted today, it’s managed as the Gwalia Ghost Town and Museum, providing visitors with an insight into a historical period and way of life that has now vanished. Visitors can wander around the old townsite, where the original mine manager’s house (designed by Herbert Hoover, a young geologist who was later to […]
