Relics of the past - Gwalia - Western Australian Goldfields

Hi everyone, time is short for me this week, so I have gone back to an unposted draft to share with you. 

It is amazing the interesting stories one hears when Wandering Out Yonder 
and honestly in a state the size of Western Australia there is a lot to see and experience and a lot of stories to hear. 

Like the case of the Gwalia Beer Strike. 

We learnt about the Gwalia Beer Strike during a trip through the Western Australian goldfields a few years ago when we visited the fascinating living ghost town of Gwalia, three kilometres south of Leonora, 236 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and 829kms east of Perth via the Great Eastern Highway (about 9hrs drive). You can see its location on the map below. 

Gold was discovered near Mount Leonora by prospectors J Carlson, F White and A Glendinning in 1896. The Sons of Gwalia mine was at one time the second largest gold mine in Western Australia. It was managed during 1898 by Herbert Hoover, who became the thirty-first president of the USA in 1929.  

Today the unique heritage site of partially renovated but abandoned miners’ cottages, gives you some insight into the life of the miners and their families. The cottages are simply built from corrugated iron with white washed hessian and pressed tin interior walls, with dirt or wooden floors. Imagine the heat during the summer! Around 1000 people lived here in the 1890s including Italian, Austrian and Yugoslav immigrants. Evidently galah and polenta was a local speciality. The mine closed on New Year’s Eve 1963 and the town’s residents virtually left over night.

There are many interesting stories about the town and its residents. One story involves the Gwalia State Hotel built by the State Government to combat the sly-grog trade, and to provide an alternative to the hotels in nearby Leonora. Designed by Perth architect Willian E Robertson, construction cost around 5000 pounds, and was more elaborate and expensive than the Government had envisaged. The hotel opened on 3 June 1903, the first in a chain of Government owned State Hotels in Western Australia. 

In March 1919 the hotel was involved in what is believed to be the State’s first beer strike.  Fifty residents drew up a list of complaints and vowed not to return to the hotel until their conditions were met.  They related to the price and brand of beer being offered, the size and cleanliness of the glasses, and the behaviour of the manager who they believed was watering down the ale, and who they insisted should be dismissed. There was also grievances over “margin scalping’ by increasing the “collar” on the poured beer making their “pints” less than they should be. 

The men began ordering supplies from a small gallon license holder and had it delivered to their camps. The police decreed this was illegal, and the liquor was seized.   

During the boycott Gwalia was hit by a pneumonia epidemic and the Health Department used the empty hotel as a hospital. 

The number of sly-grog prosecutions continued to increase even after the boycott ended in September.

The hotel was sold to a syndicate of local residents in 1960 and closed in January 1964. Some restoration work was carried out by Western Mining Corporation and Sons of Gwalia Ltd. It is now owned by the St Barbara Ltd mining company. 

The two story brick and iron hotel with its wide wrap around veranda and balcony presents an impressive sight from the street and is a fine example of Federation Filigree style typical of Australian hotels at the turn-of-the-century.

The hotel is listed on the Register of Heritage places by the Heritage Council of Western Australia, but as is privately owned can only be viewed from the street.

27 of the cottages in Gwalia have been partially restored by volunteers through the Adopt-a-Cottage Project 1995-96, with further conservation work commencing in 2013.  You can explore the history of Gwalia in the museum precinct. 

There is a fascinating display of old number plates at the old mechanics shop. 

There is accommodation at elegant Hoover House  

There is also an free RV site outside the Museum for fully self contained vehicles. Please register at the Museum. 

My story about the Gwalia beer strike was published in On The Road magazine in Australia in March-April 2019 edition.

Where is it?: Gwalia is located 236 km north of Kalgoorlie via the Goldfields Highway and 3 kms south of Leonora. 

Looking for a free camp? I can recommend Niagra Dam, about 80kms south of Leonora. You can read about it on my blog post by clicking on the link. 

More information:

Gwalia Ghost Town & Museum: www.gwalia.org.au - including map

WA Heritage Council: www.stateheritage.wa.gov.au

Pressed tin work at Gwalia

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little bit of history. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 
Our World Tuesday
Pictorial Tuesday 
ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

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In remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II and our visit to London 2005

 Good morning everyone. A little look back today prompted by recent events. 

On Friday morning, 9 September, we woke to the news that Queen Elizabeth II had died at her Balmoral estate in Scotland on Thursday 8 September 2022. 

At 96 years of age I guess it wasn't unexpected but still a shock wave reveberated all around the world. In the last couple of days we have seen and read many tributes to the Queen. She was also the Queen of Australia and we have been following events on the TV.  The Queen will be remembered with respect by thousands for her life of dedication and service to her role and the Commonwealth. A long life well lived.

I am will be watching the various services and parades in her honour on television here in Australia.

Queen Elizabeth came to Australia 16 times, with 7 visits to Western Australia where I live. I remember in 1963 standing along on the highway from the Perth Airport to Perth city with crowds of people all waving our little flags as she and Prince Phillip drove past in their motocade I am sure my Dad has a photo somewhere. This is probably the only time I have seen her in person, even though fleeting. 

Of course, The Queen has always been a constant presence in our life and the only British Monarch most of us have known. When I was in Primary School all the classrooms had a photo of her on the wall, and we sang God Save the Queen every morning. 

Here is a link from Australian ABC - an interesting look back over The Queen's life and times: www.abc.net.au

In celebration of spring in Western Australia

 Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are well. We are just back from a three week caravaning trip out through the wheatbelt and then down along the south coast.  

We were a little early for the full flush of spring wildflowers, but we particularly went to the south coast in late winter to see some wildflowers that flower this time of year and which we had never seen before. Yes it was cold and we had drizzly rain, but it didn't really impact us too much and we were rewarded with some magnificent flowers. And hey, what's not to like about an ocean cliff on a wild windy day. Trust me it was blowing an absolute gail when I took this photo, and I had to hold hard onto the railing coming down from the lookout. Next stop south is Antarctica. 

Today just a brief overview, and in the coming weeks I will share some more. 

First the queen of them all - the Queen of Sheba Orchid - probably one of our most flamboyant and colourful wild orchids - and the main reason we were down on the south coast in August. This is the Eastern variety - Thelymitra speciosa. There are two other varieties, all of which have very limited growing area. She really is stunning. We would propbably not have seen it if we hadn't been on a guided tour at Tozer's bush camp near Bremer Bay. Thankyou Paul our Botanist guide. 

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Wheatbelt camping - Jam Patch, Lake Grace, Western Australia

Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are well. Today I am taking you camping in the central Western Australian wheatbelt. 

A couple of years ago we explored some of the Western Australian painted silos trail. You can see more on my blog here: Explore the painted silos trail, Western Australia. You can see two of them below here. Amazing aren't they. 

When you are exploring the central Western Australian wheatbelt, or following the silos art trail as we were, and are looking for an easily accessible free campsite for the night, Jam Patch about nineteen kilometres north of Lake Grace might suit you perfectly.

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Hunting for Dinosaur footprints - Broome, Kimberley, Western Australia

 Hi all, this week I am sharing with you a little more from our trip to the far north west of Western Australia in 2021.  

If you missed the previous two posts you can catch up with them here:

Gumbanan - Cape Leveque - North West, Western Australia

Cape Leveque, Part 2

Years ago we had seen replica dinosaur prints embedded in concrete at Gantheaume Point – Minyirr – in Broome. The real tracks were way down on a cliff ledge, only visible at extremely low tides, and extremely difficult and dangerous to reach, hence the replicas.

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Exploring Felting - and making a felt flower

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are well. In the northern hemisphere I know there have been very hot summer temperatures and devistating fires, while down here in winter-time Australia we have had a lot of rain in the south and floods on our east coast. It is cold and wet where I live in the south west of Western Australia. But I am grateful for the rain though it does sometimes interrupt my daily walk.  

I have never been much intersted in felting. But a few weeks ago I "discovered" the Felting Pot Sudio in the lovely Fullers Coop - basically a big shed with lots of artisans in their own lock up spaces. They are mostly open Thursday to Saturday - with the cafe open Monday to Saturday. It is our new favourite place for lunch with friends. Only about 15 minutes from my home by car and no problem with parking. There are even comfy chairs with knee rugs if you are feeling the cold. 

Anyway after I discovered the Felting Pot Studio which I must say is full of deliciousness for crafters, and chatted to the owner Natalie, I liked them on Facebook and then saw an advertisement for a beginners felting workshop - a day workshop where you make a felt flower. So I enrolled. What a great day I had with a lovely group of ladies. Natalie went through the steps so clearly and we all came home with a felt flower. 

Now I am not going to pretend I know much about felting - you would need to go to a workshop yourself - and there are You Tube videos - but I think a hands-on workshop is a much better idea. 

Felting is I discovered very labour intensive! There is a lot of pulling, rubbing, pounding and rolling, soap and water involved. And surprising to me - bubblewrap! 

Starting with a selection of "wool top" (top left below) we all ended up with a beautiful felt flower! Below you can see my finished flower on the right. I added some gold thread stitching and some little beads I had at home left over from some other long forgotten project. I was really happy with the result. 

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Wild Orchid time is starting!

 Hi everyone. I hope you and yours are well. 

Just a short post from me today as we are busy helping our son and daughter-in-law paint their new house. Very exciting times for them. 

It is winter here in Australia and some of the wild orchids are starting to appear in our bushland. Orchid hunting is one of my favourite things to do especially as it gets us out into natural bushland. We are lucky to have a few places to find orchids in our area. 

Last Friday we went walking through the Manea Park Reserve as a fellow orchid hunter had told me where to find the helmet orchid - Corcybas recurvous. This is an orchid we have been unsuccessfully searching for for years. So I really felt lucky to have someone tell me where I might find them. Even with directions it took a little hunting, and then there they were!

They flower from June to September and only in a relatively small part of the south west of Western Australia. We found these in dry leaf litter under tuart and peppermint trees. 

These orchids are tiny, and like to hide in leaf litter so you really need to look carefully and then be careful where you tread. The leaves are only about 8-20mm across. They grow in large colonies, but only a few flower each year, so I think we were very lucky to see so many flowers. 

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