John Minden Caulfeild – grave tales

On the evening of Monday 20th October 1896, three men of Kanowna, Open Call stockbroker Thomas Moore Fletcher, 22-year-old photographer John Minden Caulfeild, and Richard Baugh, cycled out to Lake Gwynn and set up a camp on the western shore of the … [Continue reading]

Black Dennis – a respected man

The following story is published with the kind permission of Dennis Aartsen and is an excerpt from his four-volume set of books, Hotels of the Barrier Ranges. Black Dennis On the 28th of August 1911, a passerby stopped by a modest shack just north … [Continue reading]

Coolgardie Leidertafel & the Durston family

The following family story and photographs were kindly supplied and reproduced with permission of the late Mrs Bernice Peters of Wembley, WA with thanks. Robert Groves Durston is the father of Bernice Peters. He was born in 1863 in Bristol, … [Continue reading]

Alec from Auckland Remembers –

Western Mail 21 April 1938, page 11 OVER THE PLATES – Dolly Pot Conducted by Non-Com A water problem A Canine Burial The Siberia Rush Slugs from Kurnalpi Water was a serious problem in the Old Camp before the famous water scheme came to … [Continue reading]

Suicide, Cyanide and Scones –

Murchison Advocate 27 February 1904, page 3 Suicide and Attempted Murder. A SENSATIONAL AFFAIR At Boulder this morning, Alexander Solomon, aged 40yrs, a notorious character and well known to the police, was arrested on … [Continue reading]