The townsite of Nannine is located in the Murchison Goldfields region, 735 km north east of Perth and 30 km south south west of Meekatharra. Gold was discovered in the Nannine area in 1890, the area being rich with gold, and by 1891 was the site of feverish activity. In 1892 John Forrest, the Commissioner for Crown Lands decided to have lots surveyed and a townsite declared, although Forrest referred to the place as “Annean”, the name of a nearby pastoral station.
Waihi GM Nannine
The earliest days of gold discovery at this site are shrouded in controversy, but according to one source it is likely that the first suspicions of gold in the area were apparently held by Ingpen and Watts, station hands on the Annean pastoral station. In about May 1890 they showed the site to J. F. Connolly, a New South Wales mining engineer, who found gold but he does not appear to have been too impressed. In October 1890 McPherson and Peterkin were directed to the same site and found significant quantities of gold. By August 1891 they and others had recovered about 1,700 ounces of gold. The Murchison Goldfield, which included Nannine was proclaimed in September 1891. By December about seven hundred men were at the field.
When the local miners heard the auction of lots was to be in Perth 85 of them petitioned Forrest to have the auction in Geraldton. The lots were surveyed in 1892, and the townsite named Nannine, as “it is situated 10 miles from Annean Station and 3 miles from Nanine Wells”, and was also the name of the proposed electoral district and adjacent gold mining lease. The townsite was gazetted in April 1893. Nannine is an Aboriginal name, “Nannine Wells” being first recorded by a surveyor in 1889. The meaning of the name is not known. Nannine is a ghost town in the Mid West region of Western Australia and was formerly a gold mining town. John Connolly discovered gold at the site in 1890, prompting a gold rush to the area. It is claimed that it was the first town in the region.
Nannine Town
The townsite was gazetted in April 1893. Following the survey and the release of the town blocks for purchase, many if not all of the existing premises including the businesses moved to the official townsite. Exactly how rapidly this migration occurred is not known, but it was apparently complete by 1896/7. This may have resulted in some businesses closing down, not wishing to make the move to rated land.
Nanine Town Map
The town and surrounding area was inundated by heavy rains in 1913, Nannine receiving 1.82 inches (46 mm) in a day, causing the railway line to Meekatharra to be flooded and creating a washway a few miles north of the town. By 1919 the town was in deep decline.
Prospectors Having Breakfast Nannine
Where is it? Nannine is located on the northern bank of Lake Anneen, approximately 35 kilometres south-southwest of Meekatharra, and 735 kilometres north-northeast of Perth.
Map Courtesy of Paul Tonkin
NANNINE CEMETERY- located between Cue & Meekatharra within the Shire of Meekatharra
There are a few more headstone which can be seen on the Nannine Page @ http://bit.ly/2jZqd0m
Nannine Cemetery Sign
ARMSTRONG Charles W. bur 6 May 1907 age 11 months: Death cert 40/07
BARKAS John George died 26 Jul 1909: Mine accident Death cert 47/09
BELL William Thompson bur, 15 Apr 1902 age 60: born Tasmania: parents James & Elizabeth nee Cole:
BENBOW Gilbert bur 2 Jan 1909 lived 2 hours: Death cert 8/09
BETTS Charles bur 10 Sept 1906 age 55: Death cert 49/06
BOGIE John D. 29 Sept 1909: from Meekatharra: Death cert 58/09
BOURGOIN Tace (Lucy BURGOIN) nee Geurin b. Kapunda SA died 29 Nov 1906: Death cert 68/06
BREALEY George bur 13 Nov 1908 lived 23 days: Death cert 67/08
BROWN Charles Lewis bur 15 Jan 1906: Death cert 4/06
BROWN Robert died 27 Sept 1916: born Yarmouth England: age 67
BROWN William bur 13 Dec 1904 age about 50
BURFORD May died 2 Mar 1912 Age 26yrs
May BURFORD Nannine
CARROLL Arthur Henry Died 24 April 1987
CARROLL Thelma Maude Died 21 May 1899
CARROLL Eileen
CARROLL John Raymond Died 6 Mar 1988 aged 76 yrs
CARROLL Molly Thorley:- Died 22 June 1994
DAVIDSON John Williamson bur 30 Mar 1904 age 40: from Meekatharra:
DAVIES Sarah Rebecca bur 24 Sept 1909:From Meekatharra Death cert 57/09
DUNN Lawrence bur 5 Dec 1906: death cert 71/06
EAMER Walter bur 7 Apr 1906:Death cert 21/06
EDWARDS Beatrice Constance bur 28 Aug 1908 age 27: from Meekatharra:Death cert 53/08
EVANS James bur 15 Apr 1905 age 38: born Adelaide: parents Evan & Jemima nee Williams
FREER Adam bur 2 Nov 1904 age 65: born Glasgow
FITZSIMONS Jessie Vivienne bur 31 Aug 1909: born 30 Jul 1909:Death cert 51/09
Jessie FITZSIMMONS Nannine
FUBBARD Stella bur 3 Dec 1906 age 20:Death cert 70/06
GORE Wilfred Reginald bur 18 Nov 1904 age 31: born Portsmouth England: parents William & Mildred Mataba:
GUNN Robert Wentworth bur 27 Sept 1905 age 27: born Wentworth NSW: parents Bartholemew W. & Sarah Abigal nee Jones
HOWES Ivy Lavena bur 19 Nov 1909: from Burnakurra:Death cert 63/09
JEFFREY Blanch bur 17 Apr 1905 age 26:
JOHNS Dorothy Lucas bur 7 Sept 1909: born 5 Nov 1908: born Melbourne: Death cert 53/08
JOHNSON William bur 2 Oct 1907 age 46:Death cert 83/07
LONERGAN Lawrence bur 25 Aug 1907 age 54: Death cert 72/07
McDONNELL W. bur 24 Apr 1907 age 15 months:
McKELLAR Francis John died 11 Mar 1912: Age 27yrs Death Cert 15/12
McLEOD William John bur 15 Oct 1909 age 32: from Meekatharra: Death cert 60/09
MORGAN William died 28 Aug 1902 Age 26yrs, accident
NUTTAL James died 2nd Jan 1906 at the Ingleston GM Nanine
RIDDEL Kenneth bur 8 May 1909: from Meekatharra: Death cert 34/09
RIDDEL Neil D. bur 24 Jun 1909 from Meekatharra: Death cert 43/09
ROBINSON Ellen Theresa bur 4 Jul 1905 age 35: born Sydney parents Michael & Ellen nee Brown:
RODGERS Richard bur 25 Jan 1906: Death cert 8/06
SAVAGE Matthew bur 14 Aug 1905 age 66
SMITH Annie bur 1 Apr 1909: born 21 May 1903:
SMITH William John bur 5 Sept 1909 age 42: Death cert 52/09
SMITH Peter bur 28 Aug 1902 age about 49
SPENCE Thomas bur 13 Nov 1905 age 67
SWINTON James died 3 Aug 1909: Age 45yrs, Death cert 48/09
SWINTON Mary died 28 Jun 1927 Age 68yrs Death cert 11/27
James and Mary SWINTON Nannine
TURNER Thomas B. bur 23 Jul 1907: Lived 1 day: Death cert 67/07
WALLACE Kathleen Mary bur 18 Nov 1909 : From Meekatharra: Death cert 64/09
WHILLAS Mary buried Jul 1904 age 1 year: Born Nannine: parents Charles John & Amelia nee Bond:
WILKINS George Ernest bur 31 Jan 1909 age 23: from Meekatharra: Death cert 16/09
YATES Joseph bur 26 May 1907: Death cert 49/07
Photographs of Nannine:-
Nannine State School 1908
Western Australian Bar and Dining Rooms
Marsterton and Co, Wine and Spirit Merchant
Funeral main street Nannine
Reccomended reading:- ‘Nannine by the Lake’ by P R HEYDON
ISBN 0 85905 137 4, (1990 new), Soft Cover, 260pp, Illustrated, 350grams
Nannine by the Lake is a story of the first township on the Murchison Goldfields, proclaimed by His Excellency, Alexander Campbell Onslow, Administrator of the Government in the Colony of Western Australia, and signed by George Shenton, Colonial Secretary, on Thursday, 24 September, 1891.
The story tells of the finding of gold, and the later controversy surrounding its discoverers. It describes the little town in its early days, and the nearby settlements – small though they were, and tells down to earth stories of the inhabitants.A special feature of this book is the number of anecdotes told by men who were actually a part of ‘the first rush’, or who arrived shortly afterwards.
The descriptions by newspaper editors of their first trip to Nannine will live forever. The little town no longer exists, but the stories remain as a monument.
Nannine By The Lake
THE AUTHOR
Phil Heydon was born in Cue in 1920. His family, both maternal and paternal, were synonymous with the goldfield, for the name Chesson and Heydon was well known at the turn of the century, and later. He commenced his working life in the Post Office at Cue, in 1935, as a Telegraph Messenger. He worked in most Murchison goldfield towns, returning to Big Bell as Postmaster in 1947 and retired as Postmaster at the General Post Office, Perth. He was awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1979.
Moya Sharp
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Hello Moya, I really enjoyed reading this article. My great Uncle, Ernest Excell, died on the 14 Dec 1892 at Nannine Goldfield of Typhoid Fever. He was aged 27 yrs and a Carpenter. Death Certificate Murchison 853/1893. He had been born on 17 Oct 1866 at The Lodden, Castlemaine, Victoria and emigrated to St Bathans in N.Z. with his family about 1879. He had arrived in the Murchison area about 27th August 1892 with a PRESCOTT first cousin so didn’t survive long in West Australia.
Sincerely
Gaye Ruru [nee Excell]
Rotorua, N.Z.
Hi Gaye Thanks for getting in touch and I am so glad you like the article. Its a sad story indeed but one that was often the case. Young men, in what you would think, the prime of there life, struck down by Typhoid within a very short time. In the Coolgardie Cemetery there are over 2000 men under 25yrs and I would say the majority of the cause of death would be typhoid.
Bye for now
Moya
Hi Moya,
My grandmother said she was born in Kalgoorlie (in a tent), but her birth certificate states she was born in Fremantle, with parents living in Meekatharra.
The only evidence of the Rickerts living in this region (other than the birth certificate) is a forfeited lease in Nannine (1906).
Wondering if you could provide any leads/sites for further research?
Thanks!
Hi Janine Can you send me the details you altrady have such as names and dates and I will see what I can find for you.