No gold in the goldfields

Before we hooked up to leave Niagara Dam we took a drive 13km up the road to a “ghost town” called Kookynie. Only the pub and a few old houses there, but there was some marvellous ruins of what once was the town. It was well worth the drive. Headed off north again to Leonora. This is a much larger town and has some facilities here. A large open-cut mine just outside town employs lots of people and the Shire centre is also here. We took a drive out to the mine, travelling through the old abandoned town of Gwalia. What an incredible place. Lots of old miner’s huts still standing and restored slightly by locals. It really is a step back in time when you walk through the front door and view things as they would have been in the early 1900’s. The magnificent old pub there was built in 1903 and was built by the State Govt of the day. It’s such a shame to see it just standing there unused and waiting to fall to pieces. Gwalia is the town where Herbert Hoover (who became the 31^st President of USA) once managed the mine in 1898. It rained the whole of the next day, so we spent the time indoors, cleaning up and catching up with people. The following day we were on the move again to Laverton, 125k NW. We planned to go up the old road, but the rains closed the road, so off on the bitumen we went. Half way to Laverton there is a HUGE nickel mining operation. We were hoping to go in for a look, but the signage was missing so we decided to bypass it and check things out in Laverton to see if we can go in on the way back to Leonora. We also detoured 10k to visit the old Poseidon Nickel site which operated 1970 to 1994. When this mine first floated on the stock exchange, prices were 80c per share. Five months later, the share price was $280 per share. There isn’t much remaining of this incredible mining site and we discovered in Laverton that another Co. is planning to re-open it and start mining again. First they have to extract all the water from the original mine. It will be interesting to see what happens in a few years. We arrived in Laverton and after setting up camp, took in some of the history of the town. There isn’t much opportunity for prospecting close to town so next day we headed back to Leonora. The country is looking wonderful because of recent rains and rains last summer. After an overnight in Leonora we headed north again to Leinster and then west to Sandstone. Sandstone is a very tiny town but quite interesting. From Sandstone we headed north again, this time 200k of dirt road to Meekatharra. The wildflowers are coming out now and all the way from Leonora we have seen many varieties. This is also the country for wedge tail eagles. We saw many feeding from road kill and were able to get quite close before they flew away. Such a magnificent bird. The mining that has taken place all the way up here is amazing. So many huge open-cut pits from the early 1900’s dotting the landscape. Lots of them have been reopened and new diggings are taking place with gold being found again. Not a lot of prosperity in Meekatharra. Many small shops closed and boarded up. Spent a couple of nights here then moved north again toward Newman. The country is mostly flat as a tack. Some small mining happening in this area. The wildflowers are less in numbers but still beautiful and we still haven’t seen a Sturt Desert Pea.

Ruins of Cosmopolitan Hotel, Kookynie built 1901.  Once would have been a very gracious building.

 

Old guesthouse in Gwalia (now a ghost town near Leonora). People have restored many old buildings there and furnished them with period furniture etc.

The bathroom in the guesthouse, above. Note the pressed tin walls and old heater system.  How about the modern looking tub?

This is a part of the laundry showing how ironing was achieved in the early days.

The dining room in the guesthouse, with a period setting.

This was the barber's room.  Cut-throat razors and clippers on the bench.

Old miner's hut at Gwalia.  Earth floor in most of it and old furniture showing how people lived in 1901.

The lovely State Hotel in Gwalia.  Built by the Government of the day in 1901 and today stands unused.  An incredible waste of resources and a beautiful period building.  It will eventually fall down.

The Poseidon mining site near Laverton.  This whole area was once the mine site but has been revegitated and only a few structures remain.  When we were there we were told that another company has started pumping water from the old site and plan to reopen it sometime.  Plenty more nickle apparently.

This photo shows what the Poseidon site looked like in full operation in 1994.

The old Coach House in Laverton used as a hotel and boarding house in the early goldrush days around 1900.

Had to let you see what the country was like between Meekatharra and Newman.  Flat, red and dry.