Yerilla – from gold to gems

The decline of the town started as early as 1899, barely a teenager before its demise. The population fell, and Yerilla became a one policeman town. There were widespread doubts about the continuity of the gold and of the supply of sufficient water. It was during this year that several large areas were taken up for pastoral purposes. By January of 1900, the population had dwindled to 16 people. All mines that didn’t hold an exemption had been abandoned, three of the four hotels had closed, and the fourth was being dismantled to be removed to Edjudina. The Mining Registrar’s office and the Post Office were closed, and the Post Office building was re-erected at Mount Morgans. The battery was moved to Niagara. This would seem to be the end for Yerilla!!

However, as is often the case in towns formed in the ‘Roaring Nineties’, in 1903 there was a resurgence in some spots that had been succesful in the early days and in 1905 therre was a short lived ‘Rush’ when two prospectors, Jim Moon and Jim Jones struck gold.

Yerilla Cemetery – The First Burial – Reserve 3738
Distressing Complications

The Goldfields Morning Chronicle 26th March 1897 – On Monday morning, 22 March 1897, Mr. Simon Elliott, age 63 yrs, manager of the Yerilla Claims, died suddenly at GM Lease 64R. He was at work but died as a result of a rupture of the heart and was buried the next day. Death certified in writing Hubert Elliott, his son. Mr. S Anstell, Mine Manager, and brother Freemason read the service at the grave in the Yerilla cemetery. Two shifts had been employed digging, but the grave was only half-finished when the cortege arrived. Ten hours of work had then been done into an ironstone conglomerate. The ceremony was gone through and the coffin was placed in the grave, which was finished later on. However, a doctor from Niagara arrived in the evening with instructions from Warden Owen that the body be exhumed so that a post-mortem might be conducted. The ground in the original cemetery was very hard, necessitating blasting. It took two men 1½ days to dig the first grave. Not much foresight was shown in the selection of this site for a cemetery, which was gazzetted as 30 acres, and a new cemetery site was eventually chosen.

Note: There is no mention made of a post-mortem actually being carried out on his death certificate. Mr. Elliott’s two sons were with him, Hubert and John, and the rest of his large family remained in Ballarat. Simon’s wife, Catherine and the rest of the family moved to the Goldfields after his death, where she lived at 59 Hanbury Street, Kalgoorlie, before moving to her daughter’s house in Trafalgar, where she died in 1917. She is buried in the Kalgoorlie Cemetery.

Death Certificate: ELLIOTT Simon — 63yrs, d 22 Mar 1897, a mine manager who died from a ruptured heart. He was formerly the underground manager for the WA Gold Co. Born: Cumberland Victoria, Father: John ELLIOTT, at the age of 40 years, he married Catherine BELL nee MOORE in Clunes Victoria. At the time of his death, he had only been in Western Australia for 2 ½ years. Their children at the time of his death were – Victoria Alice 21yrs, John Moore 19yrs, Twins Violet & Hubert 16yrs, Margaret Mary Ruby 13yrs and Lillie 10yrs, Reg North Coolgardie 54/1897, Buried Yerilla cemetery.

Buried at Yerilla’s Second Cemetery.

BOASE unnamed male — d 18 Mar 1906, Stillborn, buried by father, Father: Philemon BOASE (Wood Carter), Mother: Ellen Elizabeth WOOSNAM. The couple had already lost a son, Philemon Boase, who died aged 16 months in 1900. He was born in Gippsland VIC, and is buried in the Coolgardie Cemetery. Their surviving children were Lucy, born in 1896 in Daylesford, VIC; William James, born in Walhalla VIC 1897; John born in Kurrawang WA in 1902; Annie Veronica born in Niagara in 1904, Mary born Coolgardie 1905, Thomas born Kookynie 1909, Philemon born Kookynie 1912, Ellen born 1914 Kookynie WA. Their last child was Dorothy, born in Laverton, WA in 1918, Reg North Coolgardie 14/1906, Buried Yerilla Cemetery.

MARSHALL Thomas John — 26 yrs, d about 14 Feb 1899, 12 miles from Yerilla on the Griffithstown Rd on the Linden track – Death certified in writing by William Marshall, his brother from Pendinnie. He was a miner who died of thirst, having lived in Western Australia for 2 years. He was born in Richmond, Victoria. Son of David Marshall (Labourer) and Ann Noble, Reg North Coolgardie 9/1899, Buried Yerilla Cemetery.

A swagman came across Marshall’s swag and billy-can on the road with a note attached reading:  ’10th February – no water 20 miles from here’ His body was found some 15 km from the swag; the police went out and recovered his body, which after an inquest was buried in the new cemetery.

FERRIS William — d 12 Nov 1905, 42yrs, at Mt Catherine near Yerilla, Cause: Heart disease, Verdict of the Coroner, Born in South Australia but no family details were known. Reg North Coolgardie 50/1905, Buried Yerilla cemetery.

CAPON Tom —  d 1 Aug 1968, 84yrs, was cremated and his ashes interred at Yerilla Cemetery. Tom was from England originally and was a returned soldier from the First World War. Father: George Stephen CAPON, Mother: Caroline Amelia KAY, He married Annie Wills HAYWARDS in 1910, Birling, Kent, England, and they had three children: Charlotte Annie (1911), George Stephen (1912), and Edgar John (1913). The family emigrated to Western Australia in 1923 on the ship BENALLA and arrived in Fremantle in January 1924. Tom and his family moved to Albany in the 1930s and worked as a carpenter (his trade) for several years. At this point, I think the marriage started to break down. Tom moved out to Balladonia Station and began work as a cook. He remained at the station for at least five years before moving to the Yerilla Station, where he became a cook’s assistant, general handyman, and childminder for over seventeen years before leaving to live with family in the late 1950s till his death. In 1953, Annie filed for divorce, accusing him of adultery; they had been separated for over five years. Tom returned to Perth by 1954 and settled in the Swan region, where he remained until his death, Reg 2568/1968.

WILSON Dave — 84yrs, d 30 May 1985, was from England, born 7 Sep 1901, he was cremated and his ashes interred at Yerilla Cemetery. Dave had been a prospector and well sinker before he arrived at the station in the early 1940s, he remained there into the 1980s.