COOLGARDIE WA

  After a short stay in Esperance and a rendezvous with some old friends who have just started their trip into southern WA, I have reached Norseman and the gateway to the famous Nullarbor Plain. Before taking on the long haul east out of Western Australia and into South Australia, a detour north to the goldfield towns of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie seemed a mandatory requirement.
 Coolgardie is known to many Aussies, although I doubt that there is a similar familiarity with it's historical significance. Today Coolgardie is a virtual mining "Ghost Town" a far cry from the days when it was the third largest town in the state after Perth and Fremantle with a population of over 5000 by 1898. Founded in 1892 when gold was discovered in the area, at its peak 700 mining companies based here were listed with the London Stock Exchange. The value of Coolgardie to the colony of WA  in the late 1890s was extremely significant and this importance was used to assist in forcing Western Australia to join the Australian federation. If it did not comply, Britain and the eastern colonies threatened to create a new state to be named Auralia around Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. In the end after a state referendum the WA Government was forced to agree to become part of the new federation of 1901.
 Now,  with an almost deserted, wide, main street that was designed to allow a camel train to turn around and a few buildings typical of late 19th century there is otherwise little evidence that once Coolgardie boasted 2 stock exchanges, 3 breweries, 7 newspapers and 26 hotels.
(Click on a photo to enlarge)