Dead Man in a Mine Shaft

Kalgoorlie Miner Wednesday 31 August 1898, page 4 A Dead Man In A Mine Shaft BELIEVED TO BE A KANOWNA RESIDENT. A gruesome discovery was made at about 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon by Mr H Colin. That gentleman was walking over the ground about three quarters of a mile to the south west of the […]

Burtville Cemetery:

BURTVILLE CEMETERY 14 Named Burials: (thought to be over 30 graves) The first thing I noticed about the Burtville cemetery was the cause of deaths for the 14 named burials. There were no deaths of women amongst them, but there were two infants. Of the 14, if you include the two infants, only 3 were […]

The Publican and the Pig

Coolgardie 1905 Paddy Murphy ran a ‘Shypoo’ (sly grog) ranch unbeknownst to the authorities. His establishment was always identified by Paddy’s favorite pet pig. Paddy could not read or write, nor could his wife Bridget. Their system of accounting didn’t apply the rules of double entry it answered all practical accounting purposes well enough. It […]

Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin – prospector and pastoralist

The following biography and photographs have been kindly supplied by Jeffrey Oates, whose wife is the great-granddaughter of Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin, a prospector/pastoralist of note in the Lake Darlot area in the late 1800’s until his death in 1930.  This is his story- Arthur Cranbrook Ashwin was born on 12 November 1850 in Adelaide, South […]

Suicide, Cyanide and Scones –

Murchison Advocate 27 February 1904, page 3 Suicide and Attempted Murder. A SENSATIONAL AFFAIR At Boulder this morning, Alexander Solomon, a notorious character and well known to the police, was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a young fellow named Thomas Rassmussen. While being searched in the lockup at the police station, he […]