TRAVEL WESTERN AUSTRALIA by FACTS4YOU.NET

written by Admin

Friends of mine recently enjoyed an excellent holiday to Kalgoorlie, a famous gold mining town located east of Perth in Western Australia. Kalgoorlie has a rich gold exploration & mining history dating way back to the 1800’s. I have travelled to Kalgoorlie numerous times over the past 45 years or so both for private & business purposes. Before I tell you about the great time my friends enjoyed here’s a bit of my own background with Kalgoorlie.

My first trip to historical Kal (Kalgoorlie for short),  was when I was a kid, around ten years of age. One of my cousins family lived in Kal, as their father was an underground miner in one of the major gold mines in the region. My brother & myself had been invited to stay with the family for a week during the September school holidays. An excellent time to visit Kal as it is not too hot & not too wet. Bro & myself were deposited on the train to Kalgoorlie by our parents.The train trip to Kal is some 600 kilometres. Back in the 1950’s the train ride was via steam engine. The train trip back in those far off days took much longer  than on today’s rapid speed diesels.

I recall our amazement at the endless vista of low scrubby, arid country that passed our window during the long haul east. So different to where we lived on the coastal area of Perth. We were collected at the kalgoorlie train station by the family. We then spent an exciting week with our cousins who were not backward in exploring many areas off limits! I distinctly recall moments of utter terror when our cousins led us into an area opposite one of the huge working underground mines. They began filling a couple of small hessian bags with sand out of a large square bin. Suddenly, a shout from behind us told us to get out. Only after did I realise our cousins were pinching some quartz grindings to wash to find any gold fines!

I think our cousins were as scared as we were as none of us stopped running until we reached their home In Boulder, a few k’s from the mine! Anyway we looked on with great interest as our cousins washed the sand in a basin with water. We were very impressed when they eventually ended up with a small amount of yellow gold! If they were doing this very often no wonder the area had security! However we never ventured in that direction again as we had no desire to end up in trouble once we realised what they were upto…& they were only about 10 to 12 years old. All good innocent fun I suppose for those young kids.

Our week in Kal passed quickly. What a totally different existence people had in Kal back in the 1950’s. Most people did not have electric refridgerators. Instead they used what’s called a “Coolgardie Safe”. An open, box shaped device, with a hessian bag draped over & around the shelved container. There was a setup on top which dribbled water down over the hessian bag. The draft circulating around the contraption created a cooling effect. How far we have come since those days.

The world of Kalgoorlie is substantially more modern in today’s 21st century. Our friends travelled to Kalgoorlie in about six hours on the super efficient Kalgoorlie Prospector daily train service from Perth to Kalgoorlie. They enjoyed silver service dining in air conditioned comfort…vastly different from the steam train of long ago covering passengers with soot & black dust in a very hot train compartment!

On arrival in Kal they took a shuttle bus service to a modern Hotel Resort a few k’s west of Kal. They spent an exciting three days exploring the town & visited the mines now setup to take tourists into the depths. And of course they did a tour of the famous Hay Street brothels…now that was just a tourist trip only..while the workers were obviously off duty! In Kal there are many historic mines, museums, gorgeous 19th century fully restored buildings & hotels.

I will never forget the exciting time I spent in Kal as a young boy. However that excitement can still be experienced today…of course now keeping well clear of gold mine sand stashes… and these days enjoying air conditioned comfort with fridges to keep the chardonnay & beer icy cold.

When visiting Western Australia include Kalgoorlie on your itinerary!

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