Captain Kettle at the Toorak Hotel –

The Toorak Hotel was built in 1899. On June 25, 1903, a fire destroyed the whole of the front of the hotel. Situated on the 90 Mile Road, in the early days, this was the road out of Coolgardie on the North side. It closed sometime in 1910. Licensee’s Harold B McCormick – 1900 E […]

Coote and Maley – Brewers of Lawlers

Western Mail 25 December 1901, page 62 The name of Coote and Maley is known throughout the East Murchison goldfield as brewers of the purest ale. Since this enterprising firm started operations in Lawlers they have continued to prosper, and although the gradual increase of business has from time to time necessitated the extension of […]

When they Drank Champagne out of Pint Pots –

Sunday Times 2 May 1937, page 10 GLIMPSES of life in Coolgardie in those glamorous days when the “Old Camp” was a magnet to adventurous folk from far and wide, can be interestingly recalled by 89 year old Mrs Julie Kennedy, who resides in Stirling-street, Perth. Picture those of wealthy English families rubbing shoulders with […]

The Painting in the Pub –

West Australian 12 July 1952, page 14 A Curtain Raiser for the Golden Nineties by Freda Vines One of our truly indigenous works of art, “Bayley’s Luck” painted by Gerald Walsh in 1899, hangs in the carefree atmosphere of a goldfields pub. The hotel is the Fimiston, one of the only two remaining hotels of […]

The Farren’s of the Falls Hotel – by Jill Peady

The Prologue:  Thomas Farren was born in 1857 in Seascale in the west of England where the Sellafield nuclear power station is today. Mary Elizabeth ‘Polly’ Farren nee Saunders, was born in Birmingham in 1863. They were married in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1879, at which time Mary could not read or write. They lived […]