Frank Albert Day – mascot to the 11th Battalion

Story by:- David McMillan Truth can be stranger than fiction can’t it?  Frank Day’s life is stranger than most and shouldn’t be forgotten. Blackboy Hill was the Western Australian training camp established in 1914 to house local Australian Imperial Force (AIF) recruits before they left for the battlefronts in the Middle East and Western Europe.  […]

The Boy from Maryborough – grave tales

Copy of extract taken from Maryborough and Dunolly Advertiser – 4 Nov 1907 OLD MARYBOROUGH BOY Mr William Henry STANLEY On Wednesday last there arrived in Maryborough from Kalgoorlie, Mr W.H. Stanley, Manager of the Kalgoorlie Electric Tramways Ltd. Mr Stanley’s mother and father, who are still living, are two of the oldest identities of […]

Royce Woodhead – a soldier in the making

North Kalgoorlie School Cadets, winners of the best shooting school cadets. Taken in 1909. Back row ? SMITH, Jack BACKHOUSE, Captain Lionel JEFFRIES, E STRANGER, Eric LEAN Front Row:  Royce WOODHEAD, Tom CLEMENTS, B CAPLE,  Sid KINGS. Young Royce Woodhead would have been about 14 yrs old in the above photograph, although he look younger, […]

Samuel Slater Bentley – grave tales

Samuel Slater BENTLEY was the son of Thomas Beverton BENTLEY and Annice SLATER. he was born in Hooley Hill, Lancashire, England in 1876. He married Rosalinda Violet Fox in Boulder on the 5th April 1905 at age 26yrs just a fortnight before his terrible death. Kalgoorlie Miner – 19 April 1905, page 6 PREMATURE EXPLOSION, […]

The Girl from the Goldfields:

In 1913 (and for many years after), having an abortion was a criminal act in Western Australia. Both the woman and the person carrying out the operation could face severe penalties. However, this didn’t stop the many deaths of young pregnant women with no husband or family support, caused either by trying to induce an […]