Paddy Hannan has long been recognised as the first person to find gold in the region in the June 1893 with Irishmen Tom Flanagan and Dan Shea. The men found 3 kg of gold in one day, the equivalent of an average year’s wages, at a site originally named Hannan’s, close to what was later […]
The Cricketer – Andy Dressa – Grave tales
This wonderful photograph was sent to me by Trish Ward who has kindly given me permission to show it to you. These hansom fellows were part of a cricket team and the man in the back left is the only one that can definitely be identified. He is Andy Dressa who was a champion cricketer, […]
G R Brown & Co – The Fashionable Tailor
The company of G R Brown and Co was stated as a ‘Very salubrious Establishment’ as this photo below will show. There seemd to be a great numbert of staff employed there and the building not only occupied the premesis as seen today in the ‘Burt Street Presinct’ but also a double story building to […]
Turning Men Into Stone – Book Launch
Just wanted to say a big congratulations to my dear friend and fellow researcher and historian Criena Fitzgerald on the launch of her latest book “Turning Men Into Stone’ a Social and Medical History of Silicosis in Western Australia. It was launched last night at the Hannans North Tourist Mine where an appreciative crowd listened […]
The Prison Log and “Sky Blue Goannas”
In the early days of Coolgardie, there was no provision for holding prisoners pending their appearance in court so Corporal McCarthy chopped a four-foot log from a three-foot thick trunk of a blown down salmon gum to which they were chained by a strong steel staple at one end and handcuffs at the other. (A […]