From Geraldton we headed east through some old gold mining towns, which was an interesting trip & delayed the need to face the cooler temps if the southern part of WA. Once again the old mining places we visited just served to reinforce our awareness of the hardships that the miners of old endured for the sake of the chance & hope of finding gold.
We had hoped to see some wildflowers as well, but although the rains came & the flowers sprouted earlier, the recent lack of rain has meant that most of those flowers have long since died off. So unfortunately the carpet of purples & pinks that they usually experience out there just haven't happened this year.
In Mount Magnet & Sandstone we saw relics of times past and the hunt for gold, and although the countryside we drove through was hardly scenic, it still has a fascination as you ponder how and why these men happened to be way out there, and it amazes me how they knew where to stake their claims.
And the numbers of mines still in operation all through that country is quite astounding.
We arrived in Leinster (a mine town) about 4.00pm and were intending to stay there for the night, but it was 41 degrees and blowing a gale, so we did a quick drive through and kept going towards Leonora, which was about 10 degrees cooler and less windy.
In the morning we left Leonora to visit the nearby historic town of Gwalia. This State heritage listed site includes the remnants of the old Gwalia townsite where about twenty small iron and hessian miners' cottages are open to visitors. They appear as though their owners have just walked out and left them - everything rusty & dusty but virtually undisturbed and amazingly not vandalised or graffitied. You can peer through the windows at Mazza's Store on the main street, and also imagine the life of itinerant workers at Patroni's Guest House next door. There are also a number of mine management buildings on Staff Hill, and the largest timber incline headframe in Australia. This headframe has been moved there from the original mine site, which is now hugely extended of course, but we were told that when they moved it, they found enough gold around the headsite which had obviously been spilt over time, to pay the cost of moving it - about $350k's worth I think.
In 1896, the Sons of Gwalia Lease was registered by Thomas Tobias, a storekeeper in Coolgardie. The name Gwalia, the ancient poetic name for the country of Wales, was chosen because of Tobias' Welsh heritage. By the early 1900s and throughout the life of Sons of Gwalia Mine up to the mid-1960s, a large proportion of the miners were Italian or Yugoslavian. There was considerable competition between Gwalia and Leonora. Leonora was gazetted an official townsite in 1897 and developed rapidly but the government refused to officially gazette a townsite at Gwalia, because they said replication of services in towns only two miles apart was unnecessary.
The historical mine management precinct on the hill above the township affords a great view over the mine, (which has been closed and re-opened several times in its life) as well as sporting a very elegant "managers house", which is now open as a B&B and for functions. The mine is no longer the Sons of Gwalia but is now St Barbara & fully operational.
After spending a very interesting morning at Gwalia we set off for Kalgoorlie, the temperature dropping considerably with each turn of the wheels. Consequently we arrived in mid-afternoon to pouring rain and 12 degrees. Dressed in the typical short shorts and singlet tops you can imagine our shock at having to get the caravan parked and organised in the rain & as soon as it was done we both hightailed it for the ablution block where we stood under the hot showers until we'd thawed out!!
The next day was warmer and dry I'm happy to say, and we enjoyed checking out the various places of interest in Kalgoorlie, as well as the obligatory grocery stock up. Finally we managed to get a ticket for Trevor to do a mine tour, so on the next morning he went to see the Super-Pit (which produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year and its operation far outweighs any other mining centre in Australia. The Super Pit is the biggest gold open pit mine in the country.
I, on the other hand, indulged myself with a pedicure instead of a mine tour, succumbing to the pampering of my poor dry, cracked & dust abused feet. By the time I met up with Trevor again, he was happy to have satisfied his desire to see a large operational mine, & I certainly was happy to have soft, clean feet again. A very successful day for us both !!
Leaving Kalgoorlie, heading west again, bound for a few days of revisiting old haunts, renewing old friendships and cruising down memory lane.
Watch this space :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment