Fetter's Travels: Kalgoorlie

May 30 - June 2

This weekend we decided to take a step back in time to experience the Gold Rush days in Western Australia. To do this we headed 6 hours east of Perth to a town called Kalgoorlie (aboriginal name meaning the place of silky pears). Kalgoorlie, pronounced (Kal-Goo-Lee) was put on the map by a gentleman by the name of Paddy (Patrick) Hannan who first discovered gold there back in 1901. Once he laid claim to the gold he found, thousands of people rushed to the area to get a piece of the action. It was a hard life, but there was a lot of money to be made here. Kalgoorlie grew to about 30,000 people in its prime, and still maintains that population today. There are still many mines in operation today including the “Super Pit”, an open pit gold mine that is 3.6 km long, 1.6 km wide and 640m deep. A massive man-made hole in the ground. It is a multi-billion dollar operation that runs 24/7. It is no wonder gold prices are so high, when you see what needs to be done to extract it from the earth. Many people in the Perth area are employed by mining companies and are classified as "fly-in fly-out" workers, meaning that they fly in to a mining area, work for 2-3 weeks, then fly back home for 1-2 weeks. Not the best for family life, but the pay is really good.

On the way to Kalgoorlie, our first photo opportunity was at the Rabbit-Proof Fence. This fence was originally built to keep the rabbits from moving into Western Australia from the eastern states and destroying the cattle grazing areas. It was a good idea in theory, but was not 100% effective. What it did do, was make hunting rabbits very easy. Too bad Elmer Fudd didn't know this trick. This was an important stop for us because we had just watched the movie “Rabbit-Proof Fence” the week before and we knew that we would be crossing it at some point during our travels. The movie is based on a book written about three aboriginal girls who were taken from their aboriginal families by the white people and placed in an orphanage to learn the white people's ways. The whites thought they were helping to educate the aboriginals but in fact were just denying them their traditional way of life. This went on for about 40 years in Australia and is now known as the stolen generation. Anyway, in the movie, these girls ran away from the orphanage and used the fence to guide them back home several thousand kms away. It is a fascinating movie if you get the chance to see it.

A section of the Rabbit-Proof Fence.

Also, following us along on our drive was the 563 km long fresh water pipeline that runs from Perth to Kalgoorlie. Because of its desert location, Kalgoorlie receives very little rainfall, and fresh water is in limited supply. So now it is supplied by this long pipeline from the west. The story behind the pipeline is a tragic one though. A gentleman by the name of C.Y. O'Connor initiated the plan in 1895 but it was violently opposed in parliament and the approval to start work wasn't granted until 1898. Even when the project was underway, critics did not relent. O'Connor was subjected to a particularly vicious press campaign, and committed suicide in March 1902. On his suicide note, he included detailed instructions on the construction of the pipeline, which was completed the following year. The result was that vast areas of the wheatbelt and the Eastern Goldfields, which had been relying on unreliable wells, waterholes and condensers, suddenly found that they had regular supplies of water. The pipeline was a huge success and assured the survival of Kalgoorlie and surrounding mining towns.

Fresh water pipeline.

This weekend was going to be our first camping experience in WA. Hopefully all of the poisonous snakes and spiders are hibernating!?! The weather looked favourable though (except for the overnight low temperature of 4C), so we gave it a go. We bundled up to keep warm. Unfortunately there were no fire pits here so we couldn't have a campfire to keep warm. We made the most of it though. There was a camp kitchen with some picnic tables where we played cards and had a few drinks with our friends the Rennies. It still made for some early evenings though, which was probably a good thing because our days were going to be chock a block full of activities and sightseeing. Also, being in a tent, you could hear everything around you like the Super Pit that is a couple kilmetres away and operates 24 hours a day, and the airport next to the caravan park which starts its flights at 6 am. Who's bright idea was it to put the caravan park next to the airport anyway?

Camping Aussie style: The Caravan Park.
There aren't really any assigned tent sites, you just pop up your tent on an open patch of grass.

The camp kitchen.
All the conveniences of home: fridges, stoves and BBQs.
It even had a TV so we could watch the Footy games.

Bundled up at night to keep warm.

Saturday morning started out with the Super Pit Lookout. As one of the Aussies stated "this is our Grand Canyon". It was amazing to just look out over the pit and watch the machines in action. They looked like little toy cars, but they are actually monster trucks and machines. Just to give you an idea of the expense incurred to extract the gold form the pit: there are 33 dump trucks ($4 million/truck), 2 excavators ($40 million each), as well as miscellaneous other machines like bulldozers. It takes 7 dumptrucks full of earth to extract 1 golfball size of gold. These machines run 24/7 as do the factories involved in separating out the gold from the dirt. Oh yeah, at current Australian petrol prices, it costs $15,000 to fill the gas tank on these dump trucks. But somehow they keep it going, so it must be a profitable business.

The Super Pit.
Look carefully in the bottom left to see the trucks in action. So far away they look like tine dots.
(See below for close up)

Digging for gold!

For the afternoon, we went into town to explore the shops and buildings on the main street. Of course, we had to stop at the local pub for a beer and some chips.

Typical historical hotel in Kalgoorlie.

Every town should have one of these????

Paddy Hannan's Tree.
This tree was planted to honour the site where the first gold nuggets were found in this area.

Another big part of the history of the gold rush days were the women of the night, and the 18 brothels that blessed the town. Although they tried to market Kalgoorlie as a family town, most of the miners came out by themselves to strike it rich before moving their families into the area. So with that many men in one place with money to burn, the brothels were very busy places. The local government was determined to make it a family town, so all the brothels were moved onto one street. They physically moved the buildings from their previous location and dumped them all on Hay St. The idea being that the families wouldn’t go to this area, and the girls from the brothels wouldn’t wander the streets soliciting business. This seemed to work well, the girls were making money and more families settled into the area. How do I know all of this... I took the tour.

We also learned the process of how to approach the ladies if you wanted to partake in their services, and got to see a couple of the rooms where the action happens. Don't worry I didn't touch anything!! And I know you are all curious, so I will tell you the current prices: $75/15 min, $150/30 min, $220/45 min, $280/60 min. (split 50/50 between the girls and the house). In its prime, Questa Casa employed 17 women, and it was open up to 16 hrs/day. The women worked as much or as little as they wanted, and all lived on premises. Now there are only 2 ladies working here, but out of the 18 original brothels, this is the last one standing.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, and it’s not much flashier inside,
but the stories were fascinating.

Sunday

Hannan's North Tourist Mine

Now that's a dump truck! They don't mess around down here in Australia.
Try passing one of these on the highway. Not easy!

After all the snow this past winter in Canada, we decided to buy a new snow shovel to bring home.

I think somebody is compensating for something.

Noah and Ellise in front of the Donnelly's house. Ha, ha, ha.

Panning for gold.
Noah actually found a tiny piece of gold while he was panning.
After that, the kids didn't want to leave.

An old mining shaft and tower.

WA Mining Museum.

Once we pulled the kids away from their prospecting, we headed over to the WA Mining Museum for a tour, and to check out the gold vault. It is very cool to see real gold bullion bricks.

Then it was a quick lunch and ... Off to the races!!!

Enjoying a drink on the lawn at the Kalgoorlie Racecourse.
(Wayne, Suzie, Sean, Krystin, Matthew, Noah & Kade)
It's hard to imagine that a few hours earlier we were freezing,
and now we wished we had brought the sunscreen along because we were all getting burnt.