We’re leaving Kalgoorlie tomorrow. This has been an interesting town. Gold was originally founded by Paddy Hannan and from there a town was born. Similar to the Californian Gold Rush, the miners came in and then the town formed up around the tents and tin huts. Pubs, hotels, and brothels being the first buildings built in the area.
Unknown to many, the early president Herbert Hoover, hired by a mining company as a geologist scoured Western Australia for various spots to mine. He advised buying up mining leases and hired on cheap migrant labour that were not part of the union to mine the gold, and it ended up surpassing their highest expectations of finding gold.
And because water was such a rare resource. One of the government officials took it upon himself to bring water in from Perth via a duct. So Kalgoorlie, is the only gold mine field that actually has water as a resource for the town itself. And the water reservoir was finished in 1903. No small feat for that period.
And today, we have the “Super Pit”. It’s 1.2 kilometres wide and 3.6 kilometres long. It’s expected to reach 500 metres deep. The average truck load bringing up roughly 400 to 500 grams of gold. The pictures I took, cannot begin to explain the depth and breadth of the hole left in the ground from mining. The trucks run 24/7. And they’re by no means small as you can see.
We’ve had a very relaxing time here in Kalgoorlie. Col’s Scout had a problem with the starter key and cylinder. And much to his chagrin, Chris has been chiding him about the Scout falling apart. After Chris copped so much flak about the Toyota at the Scout Meeting, it’s now Col’s turn.
We’ve met some very colourful characters here in Kalgoorlie. And if you’re ever in Boulder, stop in at the candy shop. That charming couple are part time prospectors themselves, but they’re looking to make it fulltime when they can sell up.
We also caught up with the New Zealand couple and their bus “Hobohome”. Chris has been following their blog for the past three years. They were just getting ready to tour the local brothel. Also, as we had travelled through the Nullabour, one gent told Chris to “stay away” from Hay St. and then when he got to Norseman, another old gent (in his 80’s) told Chris to stop in at the Red House and see Stella. And to tell her “Vic sent him”. Stella (apparently) will show him a really good time! Me on the other hand, well, I could buy a cup of coffee, cause he wasn’t going to be long.
But all in all, it’s definitely worth a stopover to have a look at the historical aspects.
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