Golden Outback and the Goldfields

Wardens Court Building

The Golden Outback encompasses Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, Great Victoria Desert and the Nullabor Plain which we will travel across to South Australia after visiting both Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. I fear that red dirt will become part of our lives again!

Heading due north on our journey from Esperance to the goldfields we passed through the tiny town of Grass Patch, the "Heart of Mallee Country", and apart from grain storage silos, one tavern, one house with a grass lawn (that must be the grass patch), all there was to see was mallee scrub. Onwards to Norseman with marginal country including dry lake beds and more mallee scrub on view - this is unforgiving land.

Old Gaol, Coolgardie

166 kilometres on we arrived in Coolgardie, an historic town with a gold mining past for a two night stay. Beautiful old buildings from the 1890 gold rush days line the main street which was built wide enough for a camel train to turn around - probably not used much for this purpose today! It felt almost like a ghost town with so few attractions including a general store, petrol station, information centre, and tourist venues such as the Goldfields Museum, Miners Licence Office, the original Gaol all housed in the Wardens Court Building, and of course the fully operational pub or two.

Super Pit Lookout

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is 38 kilometres east and home to what was previously called the Golden Mile, reputed to be the richest square mile of gold bearing earth in the world, and known today as "The Super Pit".The sheer scale of the mine is a breathtaking, larger than life experience of one of the largest working open cut mines in the world, originally made up of smaller working mines and then consolidated by Alan Bond when he became the owner . Today the mine is owned by KCGM, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines. The massive mining trucks working at the base look toy size from the viewing area.

The Super Pit

Gold was discovered in Kalgoorlie by an Irishman Paddy Hannan in 1893. He rode to Coolgardie with a few good nuggets to register his claim 5 kilometres north of the Golden Mile. This triggered the biggest gold rush in Australia's history and in no time the population swelled to over 30,000. Lack of water, food, medical supplies and inadequate sanitation led to disease with thousands dying but nevertheless stories of fame and fortune spread and today the twin towns of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is Western Australia's largest regional city which has the same population as in the time of the first gold rush!

Mt Charlotte Lookout

We visited the Mt Charlotte Lookout, the best vantage point for views of the town, including a water storage area fed by a pipeline established in 1903 providing water from Mundaring Weir near Perth 560 kilometres away that has ensured the town's survival from those early days. Modern establishments blend into the streetscape of this city rich with its heritage and history though one street in particular, Kalgoorlie's Hay Street was the notorious red light district of the gold rush era and a few of the bordellos are still open for business! Ade was a bit hesitant to visit - he reckoned he might bump into someone he knew!

Flowering Eucalypt

We had a more sobering visit to the semi arid environment of the Kalgoorlie Arboretum with it's magnificent display of flowering gums, and native vegetation which supports a variety native animals. There are walking trails, picnic tables and even a small dam filled by intercepting the run off from residential areas and attracting water birds. The woofs were most appreciative of a shady tree or two and the meagre grassed area.


Our next stop is unknown - a free camp somewhere along the Nullabor Plain.