History Kalgoorlie

the centenerary plaque of 1993, on wall of town hall in kalgoorlie



since 1897 tree has marked spot gold found on 14 june 1893

in winter of 1893, prospectors patrick (paddy) hannan, tom flanagan, , dan shea travelling mount youle when 1 of horses cast shoe. during halt in journey, men noticed signs of gold in area , decided stay , investigate. on 17 june 1893, hannan filed reward claim, leading hundreds of men swarming area in search of gold , kalgoorlie, called hannan s find, born.

hannan street in september 1930. exchange hotel @ centre, palace hotel on right.

the population of town 2,018 (1,516 males , 502 females) in 1898.

the mining of gold, along other metals such nickel, has been major industry in kalgoorlie ever since, , today employs one-quarter of kalgoorlie s workforce , generates significant proportion of income. concentrated area of large gold mines surrounding original hannan s find referred golden mile, , referred world s richest square mile of earth.

in 1901 population of kalgoorlie 4,793 (3,087 males , 1,706 females) increased 6,790 (3,904 males , 2,886 females) 1903.

the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) narrow-gauge government eastern goldfields railway line reached kalgoorlie station in 1896, , main named railway service perth overnight sleeper train westland ran until 1970s. in 1917, 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge railway line completed, connecting kalgoorlie port augusta, south australia across 2,000 kilometres (1,243 mi) of desert, , consequently rest of eastern states. standardisation of railway connecting perth (which changed route narrow-gauge route) in 1968 completed sydney–perth railway, making rail travel perth sydney possible; indian pacific rail service commenced after. during 1890s, goldfields area boomed whole, area population exceeding 200,000, composed of prospectors. area gained notorious reputation being wild west bandits , prostitutes. rapid increase in population , claims of neglect state government in perth led proposition of new state of auralia but, sudden diaspora after gold rush, these plans fell through.

places, famous or infamous, kalgoorlie noted include water pipeline, designed c. y. o connor , bringing in fresh water mundaring weir near perth, hay street brothels, two-up school, goldfields railway loopline, kalgoorlie town hall, paddy hannan statue/drinking fountain, super pit , mount charlotte lookout. main street hannan street, named after town s founder. 1 of infamous brothels serves museum , major national attraction.

kalgoorlie , surrounding district serviced extensive collection of suburban railways , tramways, providing both passenger , freight traffic.

on 20 april 2010, kalgoorlie shaken earthquake reached 5.0 on richter scale. epicentre 30 km north east of town. quake caused damage number of commercial hotels , historic buildings along burt street in boulder. entire burt st. precinct evacuated until 23 april. work in superpit , many other mines around kalgoorlie stopped. 2 people suffered minor injuries result of quake.

on 29 august 2016, kalgoorlie scene of collision between 56-year-old non-indigenous man , 14-year-old indigenous teenager elijah doughty. doughty killed after man chased him in ute , ran him over, man believed doughty had stolen motorcycle. there no evidence elijah had stolen motorcycle. following day, there protest on elijah s killing. several police officers injured during riot , @ least ten people charged. in july 2017, kalgoorlie man admitted running on , killing indigenous teenager found not guilty of manslaughter, sentenced in perth court 3 years in jail after being convicted of causing death dangerous driving.

panorama of kalgoorlie