Our last day in Kagoorlie rose as clear as last night’s skies had promised. It was Sunday and I was happy to take it all a bit slower. The chap next door who has being following us around since Pemberton, came on over with his farewells and I threw the door open to the sunshine.
Chris climbed up onto the landcruiser roof and untied the fuel canisters while I packed up lunch. I also read in the newspaper about the Great Happening here in Kalgoorlie this week; it is the 2013 Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, the 21st and so rather special, as no doubt the tenth, then the twentieth were. Delegates from mining, exploration and professional service industries will all be here to attend the conference between 5th and 8th August. The Chief Economic Advisor to US President Obama will address the conference and I am sure there will be many other big-wigs there. Considering that, one has to wonder how many of these attendees will be roughing it in these caravan parks that feel bound to charge their “peak season” tariffs. I am sure I will not be bumping into Gina Rhinehart or Twiggy Forest on my way back from the amenities!
It was mid-morning by the time we arrived at the WA Museum at the top of the town. We wandered in through the charming courtyard and into the foyer where we were met by a staff member who turned out to be another New Zealander. It still surprises me, although I know it should not, particularly when I immediately read up on the wall that the average age of Kalgoorlie’s population is around thirty years, that Aboriginal people make up 7.5% of the population, more than double the State average, and that New Zealanders make up 5%.
We have visited the WA Museums in Geraldton, Freemantle, Perth and Albany and enjoyed each one of them. This was every bit as good.
The exhibition in the vault is all about gold, with great chunks and treasures securely behind thick glass and every move you make on security camera. Yesterday as Chris and I had travelled up through the Northern Goldfields, I had asked rhetorically what all this gold was used for. Here the question was answered succinctly: two thirds of gold produced is made into jewellery and most of the remainder is used for industrial, dental and medical purposes. It was interesting to read how much gold goes into space travel which puts lie to my thinking that gold simply goes round and round, used for one thing, melted down for another, handed on and on. Not so if it gets fired into space!
I was also rather horrified to learn how much waste was generated in extracting the small amount of gold in my wedding ring; a whole twenty tonnes of rock. Just as well I am not a bling girl!
It was here in the secure vault that we read of the illegal activities that went on around the mining of the day; the gruesome murders and the theft of gold and the mining equipment, to such an extent that a Gold Stealing Detection Unit was established in 1907.
As usual it was the social history section that really caught my fancy as I soaked up facts that appealed to my particular curiosity.
It came as no surprise that typhoid was a big killer in the early days of the goldfields, given that the first arrivals lived in such appalling conditions and the lack of water provided for not or little sanitation. Nearly 2,000 people in Western Australia were officially recorded as dying of the disease although the actual numbers were far greater. Most of those deaths occurred on these gold fields.
I think I have already mentioned that Chris was here over forty years ago, as he and his mate relocated from Perth through to Adelaide; it was a flying visit. However his recollections were of low scrub and a rather desolate and arid landscape, certainly not the many lovely wood lands of salmon gums we have seen about. In fact he was quite confused as to how his memory could be so wrong, however this was vindicated today when we learned the history of trees and vegetation all around Kalgoorlie.
The development of the goldfields created an insatiable appetite for timber. At first the timber was cut for domestic use and to fuel the condensers supplying fresh water. However these needs were nothing compared to those of the big company mines. Vast quantities of timber were needed as props to support the growing number of underground shafts, to power the steam driven winders that hauled the gold-bearing ore to the surface and to feed the sulphide roasters processing the ore.
By 1900 the timber around Kalgoorlie had been cut out. Timber companies moved to hauling huge daily tonnages across a vast network of rail lines. One of the largest rail systems in the country radiated out from the Golden Mile. At their peak the firewood companies were delivering around 1,500 tonnes of timber per day to the miners and towns! It was one of the largest industrial uses of timber for fuel anywhere in the world in the twentieth century.
Needless to say, re-vegetation has been slow and around 1970, the trees would have still been struggling to regain their hold on the landscape. Since then, they have grown to the heights they are today, just to confuse past travellers.
A couple of days ago, we had gazed down into the Super Pit and learned its history, however nowhere had we seen into the crystal ball of Kalgoorlie’s future. Today I learned that the Pit has an expiry date of 2021 and that KCGM is engaging Kalgoorlie residents in discussions on "life after the Pit" as a way of getting residents thinking and involved. No doubt there will be a terrible hue and cry when the Super Pit is filled in or whatever, but looking about, there seems to be plenty of other mining going on all about the area. I think it might be a more gradual phasing out. Sadly all things come to an end and it is up to people themselves to manage the pain if possible; easier said than done sometimes.
I had read a teaser in the tourist brochures about a miraculous rescue from the mine in some distant past and today learned all the details, a story to match the rescue of the thirty three miners in Chile in 2010 and the two in Beaconsfield, Tasmania back in 2006, but this so much more miraculous given the absence of modern technology.
On 19 March 1907, thirty two year old Modesto “Charlie” Varischetti went to work as usual at the Westralia mine at Bonnievale. The area was hit by a storm and local streams broke through the underground workings of the mine. All but one of the one hundred and sixty underground workers reached safety. Varischetti, on the No 10 level, quickly realised he was trapped. Although below about fifty feet of water, he was in an air pocket and able to breathe. His workmates, assuming he was dead, were amazed to hear his taps from below the waterline.
A special train from Freemantle dubbed the “Rescue Special” brought an air hose long enough to reach Varischetti and two deep sea divers, their assistants and diving gear to Kalgoorlie. Two local miners also offered their diving and mining experience. They reached the trapped man on the sixth day, giving him a powerful electric lamp, food, candles and other necessities. Varrischetti was visited each day by the divers while enough water was pumped to allow access on foot. Relief came on day nine when the divers tied a rope around Varischetti’s waist and started the difficult walk back through the deep water and sludge.
He recovered and subsequently returned to work underground. To my mind, he was both very brave and very stupid. However he probably had little choice but to return to work. Those were probably the days before you could sell your story to the media for many thousands of dollars.
Another story which caught my attention and which I found quite shocking was about poor old CY O’Connor, New Zealand born Engineer Extraordinaire and brains behind the great Golden Pipeline. He was put under so much pressure from nay-sayers in both the press and the Parliament, that he dramatically shot himself while riding his horse into the sea at South Beach, Freemantle in 1902, one year before the initial project as completed. And this was way before cyber bullying.
There was of course so much more in the museum, including the Antarctic Exhibition that seems to have followed us around the nation. We were glad we had chosen to call into this museum rather than any of the others open to the public. One could spend several days exploring all Kalgoorlie’s museums.
We drove over to the Karlkuria Bushland Park, 200 hectares of natural regrowth bush land, evidence of the timber rape and recovery story alluded to above. We found a picnic table to lunch and then set out around the park on the wide well-formed pathways, all installed by “work-for-the-dole” workers.
The Walking Trail was named in 2002 after the chap that instigated the project, Doug Krepp. Before then he and fellow members of the Kalgoorlie Urban Landcare Group had lobbied hard against the area being developed for residential purposes. He is probably a man I might have labelled as a busy-body greenie, however today I was very glad for his accomplishment; both Chris and I enjoyed the walk through the regenerating heath and trees enormously and were delighted to learn of their names as we passed by; pink trunked salmon gums, green bronze trunked gimlets, native pears or karlkurias, thorny hoveas, pixie bushes, wattles, saltbushes, blackbutts and so on.
We would however like to make a suggestion to improve the park; little maps showing “You are here” and where the car parks are, in addition to the map at the commencement of the walk, which is rather faded. We became hopelessly lost and had to take several shortcuts across clay pans off the formed paths, doing far more than the prescribed four kilometres.
Back in the middle of town, we refuelled, almost a daily occurrence these days, and then headed to the Coles supermarket to stock up on provisions. We had forgotten that many country towns treat the Sabbath as a day of rest, particularly where penalty wages are an issue. Both Coles and Woolworths were closed. This was indeed a disaster; my list was long and we did not expect to be near a significant supermarket for some time.
We checked out the IGA and found it was open, offering most of what we needed, although some items were removed from the list and we kicked ourselves for our poor planning as we watched the numbers on the till climb. The very young girl on the checkout was inexperienced, very sweet and struggled to pack the groceries in my recyclable Coles bags. I gave her a hand.
Back at camp while I packed away our stores and prepared dinner, Chris strapped the spare diesel onto the roof securely and filled our extra water tanks on the back of our caravan. We are ready to leave in the morning and have a date down on Lake Lefroy with the land yachting club commodore. Somewhere we have to fit in a hole at the Kambalda Golf Course before then. It will be a busy day.
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