The Story of a Daring Coward –

Sunday Times Perth 31 January 1909, page 1 Have you heard of Jim Connolly? He was a great bushman and a line prospector and could fire two revolvers at once. The left hand was as deadly as the right, and either was certain death if Jim had any interest in mitigating your existence. He was […]

The Wright Family of Boulder – grave tales

William James Wright was born on 3 Jun 1880 at Cloverfield, Port Pirie, South Australia to George Main Wright and Elizabeth nee Rushall. He was their first child and the survivor of twin sons, his sibling being stillborn. He had one older brother born the following year. After his marriage in SA in 1910 the […]

The Christmas Find by John Drayton

Sunday Times 24 December 1916, page 18 It was not ‘Happy Christmas Hogan’s’ fault that he was born on the natal day of the Prince of Christianity. He certainly had had no voice in the matter which, it was apparent to him later, if not to his godfathers and godmothers in his baptism, was altogether […]

A Lost and Desolate Wanderer –

Evening Journal, Adelaide, 30 January 1894 A Terrible Experience at Coolgardie. A well-known and respected resident of Kent Town, South Australia, has received a letter from his son, who recently went to Coolgardie from Adelaide, from which the following is extracted : On December 24 and 25 1893 (Merry Christmas Day!) I was dying, a […]

Murder in a Mining Camp

Sunday Times 29 August 1943, page 7 Murder In a Gold Mining Camp Murderers I Have Known, by Harry Mann, ex-Chief of the C.I.B., Perth, as told to Max Praed Boom days on the Murchison goldfields! What a picture that calls up, to us who remember the richness and the wickedness! of those roaring times! […]