The former gold-ming town of Gwalia is located more than 800 kilometres east of Perth and 233 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
This once-booming gold-ming town was abandoned back in December 1963, virtually overnight, when the mining company of the area closed. Today, Gwalia is a well-preserved ghost town and the only
significant remaining example of an early miner’s camp.
The Wongatha People (Wangkathaa)
The Wongatha people are
comprised of the eight Aboriginal Australian peoples of the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.
According to Jared Diamond's book “Guns, Germs and Steel - The Fates of Human Societies”, 40,000 years ago, Native Australian societies enjoyed a big start over societies of Europe and other continents. Native Australians developed some of the earliest stone tools with ground edges, the earliest hafted stone tools (stone ax with handles), and by far the earliest watercraft, in the world. Some of the oldest known painting on rock surfaces comes from Australia. Anatomically modern humans may have settled Australia before they settled western Europe.
Until about 13, 000 years ago, most people across the world were living more or less as hunter-gatherer societies, in small mobile groups.
Hunting and gathering of food sources usually demand very large areas of land; it has been estimated that people who depend on such methods generally require 18 to 1,300 square km (7 to 500 square miles) of land per capita, depending on the environmental conditions.
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| Aboriginal men with spears and woomeras, Western Australia, circa 1895, National Library of Australia |
Fire-stick farming was another strategy for food production and land management, usually during the cold-time. Women mostly collected the seeds for eating, and young girls would learn how to collect and process the seeds and the spiritual importance of the foods.
Other important information learned was the reading of animal tracks, and the use of digging sticks.
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| Portrait of a seated Aboriginal woman with an animal skin draped over her right shoulder, Western Australia, circa 1880, National Library of Australia |
Different Aboriginal groups and languages use a variety of words to express the idea of the Dreamtime, which is the
foundational concept for the Aboriginal religious belief system.
The Dreamtime, believed to exist in the distant past, was a time of extraordinary happenings and creation when mythical beings created the natural world and
made the rules for ritual practices and behaviour. These ideas and beliefs were passed down generations through oral tradition.
Wongatha, a Western Desert language is still spoken today and native speakers are generally able to understand the various closely related dialects.
1616
In October 1616, Dirk Hartog, in the Eendracht, a Dutch East India Company ship, became the first European to set foot on the western shores of Australia.
1829
Perth was founded by Captain James Stirling as the capital of the Swan River Colony in 1829.
As Australian Aboriginal people were isolated from the rest of humanity for at least 50,000 years and lived in dispersed groups, infectious diseases were probably not very problematic.
However, Europeans, who had developed agriculture and domesticated animals, had been exposed to various zoonotic diseases and developed immunity to them over thousands of years. These diseases
travelled with them had terrible impacts on Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal people mostly believed that these diseases
developed from sorcery and other supernatural causes.
1850s
From 1850, convicts began to arrive in Western Australia and began to build roads, other buildings and infrastructure.
1860s
In 1869, John Forrest an Australian explorer camped near Leonora-Gwalia during a search for the lost German explorer and scientist Ludwig Leichhardt, who had disappeared twenty years earlier. Forrest
called the area "
unpromising" country. It can still be a challenging and harsh environment.
John Forrest later became the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament
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| John Forrest as portrayed by Talma & Co. in 1874 |
1890s
Edward "Doodah" Sullivan is said to have been the first prospector to find gold about 4 miles north of Leonora. In March 1896, he pegged the Johannesburg Lease. However, he died later that year and is buried near Mt. George.
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The headstone "Erected to the memory of Edward Sullivan of
Leonora, who died on Joly 2, 1896, aged 36 years." Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 30 May 1935 |
In May 1896, the prospectors Carlson, White and Glendinning discovered another reef that they named "Sons of Gwalia", an ancient name for the country of Wales, in honour of Thomas Tobias, a storekeeper of Welsh descent in Coolgardie, who had funded them.
However, in the
following year, the lease was sold to G.W. Hall and Pritchard Morgan for £5000 cash. A ten-stamp battery was soon operating with 110 workers.
Hall, who had been born in Herefordshire, England, bought a second-hand 10-stamp battery and was soon
employing more than 100 men and recouped his investment within a month.
A shantytown began to crop up of buildings made by mine workers, of bush timber, galvanised iron, and insulated with hessian and newspapers.
A Future President
The English company called Bewick, Moreing & Company employed a mining engineer who would often travel thirty or forty miles in a single day, by camel, to act as a consultant to many remote mine and prospecting sites.
This man, Herbert Hoover, who would later become the 31st President of the United States, upon viewing the Sons of Gwalia mine in 1897, negotiated a deal to obtain
control of the company and by early 1898, the Sons of Gwalia Company was launched on the London Stock Exchange. Herbert Hoover was appointed General Manager from 1 May 1898.
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| Camel teams carrying firewood to Sons of Gwalia Gold Mine, circa 1901, SLWA |
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| Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954) |
Hoover cut costs at the mine by no longer paying double time on Sundays, or, bonuses for working wet ground and increasing contract labour. He sacked those affiliated with the union and employed many Italian labourers at cheaper rates, who were often poor and desperate. In Hoover's own words:
"I have a bunch of Italians coming up ... and will put them in the mine on contract work. If they are satisfactory I will secure enough of them to hold the property in case of a general strike and ... will reduce wages".
Soon, the town's population was mostly of Italian background and as the company provided no housing for its workers, many of them built shacks which had no bathrooms or kitchen facilities. Hoover, however, got to work
designing a house for himself and his wife, in an area known as "nobs' Hill". But Hoover moved on before it was finished. You can visit that house today.
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| Once the home of the manager of the Sons of Gwalia Gold Mine, Hoover House, Gwalia, WA |
Leonora was gazetted an official townsite in 1897 and was developing fast. However, the settlement at Gwalia began because mine workers decided to pitch their tents close to the mine shafts
rather than travel back everyday to Leonora. However, the government refused to gazette Gwalia as a township deeming it to be too close to Leonora.
In 1899 a school opened at Gwalia in the Wesleyan Church. Later a convent school and then state schools opened at both Gwalia and Leonora.
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| Prince of Gwalia main mineshaft and whip, Coolgardie Pioneer (WA : 1895 - 1901), Saturday 15 July 1899 |
1900s
By 1900 Gwalia was increasing its gold production and employing about 500 men. A steam tramway also linked Leonora and Gwalia. And the Malcolm Dam was built in 1902 to provide water for the railway.
Gwalia was surveyed in 1901 in an attempt to bring some order to the unregulated growth of the settlement. Many single men chose to
live at a campsite called "Gwalia Block" near the mine, while families mostly built improvised tin shacks on the blocks of land.
The Gwalia Railway Station
opened in 1902 on the Kalgoorlie/Leonora Line. This line is still used for freight, but the station closed in 1963.
The Gwalia State Hotel was built in 1903 by the Western Australian State Government. The motivation behind the unusual idea of the government being involved in licensed premises was an attempt to lessen the sly-grog trade. The hotel opened on 3 June 1903. In March 1919, a
group of miners agreed to boycott the hotel. This "beer strike" went on until the miners' demands for improved conditions were met.
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| Sons of Gwalia Mine, WA, Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Tuesday 23 June 1903 |
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| OPENING OF THE LEONORA-GWALIA TRAMWAY, OCTOBER 6, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 24 October 1903 |
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| State Hotel, Gwalia, WA, built 1903, Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Tuesday 23 June 1903 |
A shopping area developed, with a
general store, barber, lolly shop, tailor, drapery, butcher, café and bakery.
By 1903, 27% of Gwalia mine's workers were Italian born. By 1950 that had increased to 50%.
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Mt. Leonora Miner (WA : 1899 - 1910), Saturday 18 June 1904
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THE LARGEST TAILINGS WHEEL IN THE STATE-ON THE SONS OF GWALIA GOLD MINE. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 20 May 1905 |
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| Pouring moulds at "Sons of Gwalia" gold mine, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 20 May 1905 |
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Gwalia-Leonora tram car and barn, Goalie, WA, Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Tuesday 13 June 1905
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| Mt. Leonora Miner (WA : 1899 - 1910), Saturday 18 August 1906 |
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Gwalia, WA, steam train, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 28 December 1907
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| GROUP OF KOOKYNIE AND GWALIA RIFLE TEAMS, WA. Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 - 1916), Tuesday 31 December 1907 |
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| Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA : 1898 - 1919), Sunday 29 July 1906 |
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| Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA : 1898 - 1919), Sunday 20 December 1908 |
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| Mt. Leonora Miner (WA : 1899 - 1910), Saturday 24 October 1908 |
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| Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Saturday 16 January 1909 |
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Leonora Miner (WA : 1910 - 1928), Saturday 3 August 1912
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A more solidly built general store was built and operated by J. A. Wilson and Co. in 1910. A P Dimitrio was running the store in 1913.
WWI
During World War I gold production fell. Only 100 men and 26 ponies were
working on the mine by the end of the war. It was also difficult to find men to work at the mines, and after the war, the introduction of the 40-hour week made gold mining less profitable, with less gold being produced.
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| PTE. JOHN DALEY. Died of wounds. Well known at Gwalia. Sun (Kalgoorlie, WA : 1898 - 1929), Sunday 10 October 1915 |
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| Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), Thursday 24 April 1919 |
1920s
Built circa 1920, Patroni's Guest Home was one of several boarding houses in Gwalia to provide accommodation and meals for single miners working at the nearby Sons of Gwalia Mine (for approximately 50-.60 men).
The Decline
A fire caused great damage to the machinery of the Sons of Gwalia mine in 1921, resulting in 200 men losing their jobs. When the mine reopened in October 1923, many workers of Italian, Greek and Yugoslav background came to the town, but the mine was not profitable.
Elena Mazza, the wife of Bernardo (Barney) Mazza, ran one of the boarding houses and raised six sons while her husband worked as a miner.
Mrs Dina Patroni opened her boarding house on Lot 515 Tower Street.
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| Leonora Miner (WA : 1910 - 1928), Saturday 30 July 1921 |
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| Fire at Sons of Gwalia mine, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 10 February 1921 |
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Leonora Miner (WA : 1910 - 1928), Saturday 4 August 1923
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Improvement...For A While
Wise’s Post Office Directory listed three boarding houses at Gwalia in 1925 run by: Mrs A. Ryan, Mrs T. Taylor and Mrs B. Mazza.
The mine was losing money and failing to attract workers to live in the difficult conditions and
environment. Many miners lived in small shacks made of corrugated iron, with no running water.
The mine obtained a loan in 1928, bought new machinery and soon paid off its debts, helped along by the gold bonus of £1 per ounce provided by the Federal Government during the Depression. A few years later, Gwalia had four boarding houses to
accommodate the hopeful men who came to Gwalia looking for work in the Depression years.
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| Leonora-Gwalia Municipal-Tramway: These trams conveyed miners from.Leonora centre to'themines at Gwalia., Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 20 September 1925 |
1930s
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| Truth (Perth, WA : 1903 - 1931), Sunday 7 December 1930 |
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| Employees of the "Sons of Gwalia" mine, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 1 February 1934 |
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| Kalgoorlie Miner (WA : 1895 - 1954), Tuesday 18 July 1933 |
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| A diminutive locomotive, ordered by the Sons of Gwalia mine, Gwalia, and designed to run on a track with a gauge of 1ft. 8in., is being built at the Midland Junction railway workshops. The picture above contrasts it with a locomotive (right) intended for a 3ft. 6in. gauge. Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 10 May 1934 |
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| The Sons of Gwalia Mine, WA, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 30 May 1935 |
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| Gwalia miners waiting to go on the afternoon shift, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 13 January 1938 |
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| Sons of Gwalia-the Mainstay of Leonora-Gwalia District, Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954), Sunday 19 June 1938 |
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| A Sunday afternoon gathering at Gwalia, Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 13 January 1938 |
1940 and WWII  |
| Northern Grazier and Miner (Leonora, WA : 1929 - 1944), Saturday 20 March 1943 |
Locked Up!
During World War II, the civilians from "enemy nations" including Italian nationals, were sent to internment camps creating a shortage of mine workers.
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| Leonora News (WA : 1944 - 1950), Thursday 23 September 1948 |
In 1949, Elena Mazza’s son, Victor, bought the general store at the Gwalia Block.
The Co-Op store on the Gwalia Block Road, which had opened in 1918, closed in 1957. Mazza’s Store was the only
general store remaining in Gwalia. The Gwalia picture theatre, run by Beryl Demasson on the Gwalia Block, closed in 1958.
1950s
Other businesses at Gwalia began to suffer and Mazza’s and Patroni’s boarding houses stopped operating in the 1950s. But in the 1955, the Sons of Gwalia Company obtained a government loan and built accomodation for forty-two men, with a bathroom, kitchen and mess hall.
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| West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 2 June 1951 |
1960s: Closing Down
Costs were outstripping profits, which led to the decision to close the mine on 31 December 1963. However, the timber headframe used for hauling miners, horses and ore out of the mine, was damaged and the mine closed four days earlier on 27 December 1963.
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| Headframe at Gwalia, WA |
Abandoned
With the mine's closure, most of the towns 1700 residents gathered together their valuables and left Gwalia travelling on two trains. Overnight, Gwalia became a ghost town.
When the mine closed, the Mine Manager's House, Mine Office and Assay Building, were taken over by Western Mining Corporation, who used the buildings as a mineral exploration base until 1971.
During the 1980s, open-cut methods of gold extraction occurred around Leonora and Gwalia, which renewed interest in restoring the buildings of the area.
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| Gwalia, WA, open cut mine |
The right to restore miners' cottages and camps, which had been abandoned in 1963, was auctioned off in 1995 by the Leonora Tourist Committee. Successful bidders were given titles authorising them to restore the camps, with certain guidelines and at their own cost.
Over 100 people became involved in the restoration of Gwalia, and 27 buildings were restored in time for the Leonora-Gwalia centenary celebrations held on 18-30 September 1996
Today, the State Hotel at Gwalia is a fine example of one of Western Australias first hotels, built in 1903 at a cost of 6000 pounds. And the local museum is home to the largest steam winder (1000 hp) in Australia, which was imported from England in 1912, as well as Midland, a woodline steam engine that carted over 30,000 tonnes of firewood a year to fire the boilers at the Sons of Gwalia Mine.
Around Gwalia
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| Gwalia State Hotel, Gwalia, WA |
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| View of Gwalia, WA, Australia |
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| View of Hoover House, former short-time residence of Herbert Hoover and now a museum exhibit and B&B, in Gwalia, Western Australia, Bahnfrend |
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| Accomodation for single men at the back of Patroni's Guest Home, Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Bathroom in shack at Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Mazza’s Store was abandoned in 1963, Gwalia, WA |
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| Commonly known as "The Pink House"or, ''Little Pink Camp", Gwalia, WA |
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| The remains of the Gwalia railway station platform to the west of the State Hotel, Gwalia, WA |
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| Around Gwalia, WA |
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| Gwalia Museum, Gwalia, WA |
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| The Gwalia Swimming Pool. WA. was constructed in 1943, by the mining company trying to attract workers to the region |
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| Inside one of the miner's cottages, Gwalia, WA |
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Miner's cottage, Gwalia, WA
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Patroni's Guest Home, Gwalia, WA, provided accomodation for the many single male miners
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| View of Gwalia. Wa |
Things To Do and Places To Go
Gwalia Museum
The Western Australian Goldfields Trail
Gwalia Interactive Map
WA Indigenous Storybook
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