We’ve just spent a week in Kalgoorlie, staying with our son who has lived there since February. He works in the resource industries. He also went to the School of Mines in Kalgoorlie fifteen years ago.
Kalgoorlie, 600 kilometers (400 miles) from Perth, is most famous for gold mining. On June 17th, 1893, a prospector, Paddy Hannan filed a Claim, resulting in the Gold Rush. Kalgoorlie and surrounding towns are a fascinating mixture of very old buildings from the Gold Rush and new, plus everything in between.
Statue of Paddy Hannan who discovered gold in Kalgoorlie. It is at the corner of Hannan and Wilson Streets.
Gold continues to be the leading industry in the region, most evident in the Superpit which is close to town. Nickel is also mined in the area.
We set off to look at Boulder, almost a suburb of Kalgoorlie with many old, gracious buildings reflecting the wealth of the Gold Rush era . Then on to the Superpit, originally a consolidation of local mining companies called KCGM. Mid 2020 KCGM was bought by Saracen and Northern Star. The Superpit, an open cut mine, is getting bigger and mining will go underground, adding many years to the life of the pit. At the moment it is approximately 5km long, 1km wide and 500m deep.
Three haulpaks parked about a third of the way to the bottom of the pit.
The haulpaks are enormous.
From there we set off for Kookynie via Yarri Road, which is mostly gravel, passing remnants of ghost towns and signage for many small mines. The soil along the road was red, pink, cream and sometimes black, with shrubby bush and small trees.
The gravel road to Kookynie.
Are we there yet?
Evidence of several long gone towns along the road.
Stopped at the Kookynie Hotel, thinking we’d have lunch, but we were too early. Met Willie, the Hotel horse. I’d taken him an apple, which he obviously enjoyed and he snuffled around us, thinking we had more somewhere. Then he drank the water in Louis’s collapsible dog water bowl! He accompanied us from the ute to the Hotel door, where he made it impossible for us to enter without paying him more attention.
Willie, the Grand Hotel Horse arrived as soon as we parked.
He drank the water from Louis’s traveling water bowl.
Willie preventing us from entering the Hotel until we paid him more attention. He is a lovely, gentle horse
He is a beautiful horse. Kookynie is a long way from anywhere else and he just turned up one day, very thin and ragged. He drank and drank and then ate and then just settled in. Researching his brand information, it was discovered he had been a race horse. When he was retired from racing he apparently was moved to a station (a very big farm) but obviously didn’t like it there, so he left. A sad story, but Willie is now a well fed, much admired horse and a local attraction. He visits all the town people each morning and then settles at the Grand Hotel, ready to greet visitors.
From there to Menzies, still thinking we’d get lunch. No luck, so we settled for a muesli bar and some crystallized ginger. Set off to Lake Ballard famous for its Sir Antony Gromely sculptures. The lake is a salt pan at this time of the year.
Sir Antony Gromely, an acclaimed English sculptor, was commissioned by the Perth International Arts Festival to create the sculptures to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary in 2003.
Gromley persuaded 51 locals to strip and be digitally scanned to create life sized models which were then cast in a stainless steel alloy. Standing in the shimmering heat haze looking over the now dry saltpan, the view is as unexpected as it is amazing. The sculptures throw interesting shadows. There are 51 “people” in an area of 10 square kilometres.
“It is one of the greatest artistic installations I have ever seen” Sir Ian McKellen
On a previous visit I walked around almost the entire area to look at every sculpture but this time it was too hot and dry.
Quite a climb to the top in the heat. Looking down at the footprints going from sculpture to sculpture looks like a massive Aboriginal dot painting, as people don’t seem to walk in straight lines.
Lake Ballard from Snake Hill Lookout.
Fire pit with frame for hanging the billy for heating water.The frame swings over the fire pit. A billy is a covered pot. Once the tea leaves have been added to the boiled water you put the lid back on it and swing the pot around to settle the tea leaves.
Finished the day with a visit to our son’s office and warehouse, then drove around a big industrial area. Kalgoorlie is a vibrant and interesting City.
A slow start the next day, which was Sunday, as the galleries we wanted to visit didn’t open until later in the morning. This meant our son had time to make us pancakes and I pottered in his garden in the warm sun. It got very hot later in the day.
Then we discovered the three galleries online information wasn’t current and none of the galleries open on Sunday. CV-19 has changed the hours galleries are open and how many people can enter at a time. Set off to look at Kambalda, known for nickel mining, then back to Kalgoorlie. Made a late lunch and spent some time looking at our photos and wandering around the neighbourhood, giving Louis, the dog, a good walk. It also meant I could look at the houses, too. So many places around my son’s house have put up dazzling Christmas decorations, including the house next door with four metre high deer in the garden. Their heads move and Louis likes to stop and look at them. The two rottweilers who live there don’t like Louis stopping and bark and bark!
We are really enjoying our visit and already planning on returning.