Tag: Goldfields

Rock formations of Sandstone

Sandstone is a small historic town in the Goldfields region of Western Australia. It is located 660km north east of Perth. The town derives its name from the dramatic contrast of natural rock formations, with the rust stained sandstone landscape.

The two such famous places, where the rocks display their beauty are the Old Brewery and London Bridge.

The Old Brewery

The Brewery opened in 1907 supplying many thirsty miners of Sandstone with beer. It was built on top of the breakaway 10-15 meters in height. As such, people could see it up to 20km away. What an attractive sight! The beer was stored in barrels inside the cellar, which was a massive tunnel carved deep into the rock with the hole bored through the ceiling of the rock. This allowed beer remain remarkably cool even in hottest weather.

The Old Brewery near Sandstone

London Bridge of Sandstone

The main attraction of Sandstone, for me, was beautiful rock formation with a romantic name London Bridge. It is part of a larger rock formation about 800 meters long and 3 to 10 meters high. Lodone Bridge is about 350 million years old, while the underlying rocks of Sandstone area are approximately 2 billion years old. Compare that with the planet Earth, which is 4.5 billion years old! The «bridge» is the result of erosion in hard and soft rock, which makes it thinner as years go by.

Back in late 1800 the bridge was wide enough for a horse and buggy to cross. Nowadays, it is quite thin. Although there is a great temptation to climb the bridge, the nearby sign asks you not to. This is to preserve this natural beauty for the next generations for as long as possible. It is also in the interests of tourists’ own safety. So, if you do visit this place, please respect the rule and do not walk over the bridge.

Gwalia Ghost Town

Gwalia is a historic, living ghost town in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, near town Leonora. It is 828km east of Perth and 3km from Leonora.

The town flourished when Sons of Gwalia Mine operated there from 1896 to 1963 and produced over 2.5 million ounces of gold. It was the second largest gold mine in Western Australia. At its peak in 1911, Gwalia had a population of around 1100 people. Today, most places are abandoned with the exception of just a few. The main attractions are the Museum, the open cut mine and Hoover House.

Hoover House

Hoover House was built for the Sons of Gwalia Mine’s then manager, Herbert Hoover. He later became the 31st President of USA. Hoover House now offers luxurious accommodation and serves coffee and cakes.

Gwalia Museum

Gwalia Museum has interesting display of indoor exhibits, as well as outdoor mining equipment.

Lessons learnt from the past

After a quick look at the mine, as well as Hoover House, I spend most of my time at the Mine Office exhibition. There I was fascinated to learn about the history of the place, which had a significant cultural meaning. A large portion of Gwalia residents during the Sons of Gwalia Mine operation were migrants from Italy and the former Yugoslavia. Reading stories of those migrants, I resonated with some of them. Like, Lucia, I too came to Australia as a migrant, leaving all my family behind and starting a new life here. Like her, I too, am finding it hard to be a first-generation migrant. But when life throws this challenge and you deal with it, you become a stronger person.

There are many lessons we can learn by reading and studying these stories. In the old days, life used to be simple and now it is quite complex. As Stephen Peacock, one of Gwalia’s residents put it:

Well, Gwalia was a really interesting and eye opening stopover. But now, we are heading to famous Lake Ballard. It’s time to go!

Ghost town Kookynie

Kookynie ghost town entrance sign

Kookynie is a “living ghost town” in Western Australia. It is part of the 965km Golden Quest Discovery Trail in Goldfields. Back in 1907 during golden mining rush, Kookynie was a vibrant community. At that time the town counted more than 3500 people. Now it is a deserted town with no more than 20 people. Although, the town boasts Grand Hotel that is still in operation. It offers meals, drinks and overnight accommodation to visitors and locals.

In the old days, Kookynie had 11 (!) hotels, a Town Hall which held regular Saturday night entertainment activities, the first public swimming pool in the Goldfields, a number of businesses and public facilities and even its own brewery and soft drink manufacturers! Many of its buildings are now gone completely or ruined. But the memories and stories still live displayed through remnants of buildings and interpretive signs.

Here used to be the social centre of the town…. Not any longer.

In the past Kookynie was one of the many towns in this area that attracted a lot of gold mining prospectors. As people still go out to these places and do actually manage to find gold, our kids were seriously hoping to become modern day prospectors and find gold too!

While the kids were busy looking for gold, the adults wandered about the deserted place, each deep in their own reflections….

Kids were fascinated with a number of old antique rusty cars that seemed become part of the landscape quite long time ago. How much fun it is to climb on top of one such car!

…. or to sit inside and steer the wheel!

Photo by Iulia Galushina

Niagara Dam

A few kilometres further away from Kookynie is Niagara Dam, which was built in 1897 to provide water for the nearby town and the steam engines during the early goldrush days. It became redundant a few years later when plentiful underground water was discovered at Kookynie.

Now Niagara Dam is a popular picnic spot, offering wonderful opportunities for photography.

Niagara Dam near Kookynie

It is also a free camp spot with toilets, gas barbeque, picnic tables, and cement fire rings. Sounds like a perfect place for our next camping trip!

The sun was setting down, which meant it was time to go back to Morapoi Station and prepare for the night.