16 minute read
I’d Much Rather Wear Out Than Rust Out
BY LLOYD GORMAN
THERE WAS A GREAT REACTION TO THE FEATURE ARTICLE ‘KALGOORLIE: WORTH MORE THAN ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD’ IN THE DECEMBER EDITION OF IRISH SCENE AND MANY MORE STORIES ABOUT THE GOLDFIELDS THAN WE COULD FIT INTO THAT FEATURE. HERE ARE SOME OF THEM AND WE WILL HAVE MORE IN THE MARCH EDITION.
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The development and extension of the Swan colony’s early rail network from Perth to Northam, Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie amongst other places, was of one of the ambitious achievements of the Tom O’Brien Irish born Engineer-in-Chief Charles Yelverton (CY) O’Connor, who is said to have first learned about railway construction as a junior engineer on the Waterford-Kilkenny railway. The Trans-Australian railway came well after O’Connor’s time and was another massive infrastructure project designed to connect Western Australia with the rest of country. Indeed the promise of a federally funded rail line was held up as an incentive to West Australians’ to vote for Federation. Until the Trans-Australian railway opened in 1917, the only real option for moving goods and people west to east was by ship across the Great Australian Bight, a journey which could be slow and rough. Work on the line to span the Nullabor started from Port Augusta in South Australia in 1912, while at the other end tracks eastward started to be laid from Kalgoorlie during World War One. We have some fascinating insights into this nation building project thanks to the family of the late Tom O’Brien. He came to WA from Tipperary in Ireland in 1913 and two years later found himself working on the building of the Trans-Australian railway, hundreds of miles outside of Kalgoorlie. “[It] was a feat equal to orbiting the moon, in those days,” Tom told a newspaper reporter. A newspaper clipping from the Kalgoorlie Miner from April 1977 has the headline: ‘A touch of the Irish heading our way’. The article reported the Irishman would soon be returning to ‘Kal’ after a gap of 62 years. “Last time he was here was in 1915, when he was working on the building of the Trans Australian railway,” the article said. “He’s looking for anyone who knew him in the old days, or for that matter, anyone who didn’t know him but would like to swap a few yarns. To make sure he would know he was coming he introduced himself at our Perth office and asked in his lilting Irish brogue whether we “might not just do him the favour of putting a little bit in our paper”. He was sure some
of the other men who worked on the line must still be around. “The main camp had 500 men and 300 of them were Irish,” Tom told the newspaper. He obviously made a big impact on the reporter who described him as “an irrepressible 83 year old who drops into a joke at the drop of a hat... and also plays five instruments… and sings and stepdances.” He could also write and was a contributor to the handwritten newspaper The Desert Echo, which circulated around the railway workers. Indeed at that time he still had an original copy of the handmade newspaper. “Those days on the railway were free and easy, they were good days. That’s why when I go to Kalgoorlie I’d like to look up some of my old mates,” he said. “I’d much rather wear out than rust out.” The Record newspaper carried an obituary about him in June 1981. “He would recall how nearly half the men out on the line, how Tom Mulcahy built an altar for priests and how he served Mass for Fathers Kiely, Brady and Doddy who came out to say Mass,” the Catholic newspaper article said. “Pat Maguire his friend, he would relate, could neither read nor write and used to sign with a cross when he collected his pay. One day the paymaster – the story would continued – noticed two crosses and asked why. “I just realised I have two names, Patrick Joseph”, replied Pat Maguire. Tom O’Brien’s confidence in being Irish and proud of it allowed him to tell real Irish jokes a long time ago.” The Trans-Australian railway still operates today and services both the Indian Pacific and The Ghan. Above: The Prospector train editor Lloyd Gorman took to Kalgoolie with companions Bob O’Connor and Kieran Ahern (inset)
PROSPECTS GOOD FOR THE TRAIN TO KALGOORLIE
Irish Scene editor Lloyd Gorman made his first trip to Kalgoorlie in mid-October last year, with companions Bob O’Connor and Kieran Ahern, both originally from Limerick. We travelled to the outback city by train, taking the aptly named Prospector from the terminal in East Perth. Instead of finding – as I had imagined – a great big locomotive like The Ghan waiting to take us to our destination, I was surprised to find one with two or three commuter carriages, more akin to the train you might catch at any Perth train station. Inside however it was as comfortable as you could expect, like an airplane seat with a scaled down version of the bells and whistles you might get while flying, but with much more leg room and bigger windows. The Perth to Kalgoorlie standard gauge train line first opened in 1971 and replaced the overnight sleeper service and at an average speed of 85km/h (53mph) slashed the 653km (406 mile) journey from fourteen hours to only eight—making it the fastest service in Australia at the time. Today it can hit about 99km/h and takes about seven hours. When our little party got out at the other end we all felt fresh and rested. About a month after our train ride, the Prospector officially turned 50, having made its maiden service on 29th November 1971. A shin-dig for the special occasion was held at Merridin train station, the half-way point on its long route. Kalgoorlie MP Ali Kent said the Prospector was “a key part of our Goldfields history”.
A WHISTLE STOP TOUR OF HOW THE TRAINS REACHED THE GOLDFIELDS
THE FOLLOWING IS A SLIGHTLY EDITED VERSION OF THE HISTORY OF THE KALGOORLIE RAILWAY STATION WRITTEN BY THE CITY OF KALGOORLIE-BOULDER PUBLISHED ON INHERIT.STATEHERITAGE. WA.GOV.AU
“The discovery of gold at Southern Cross and the subsequent declaration of the area as the Yilgarn goldfield in 1888... prompted the State Government to commence construction of a railway to serve the area. The line, known as the Yilgarn Railway, began at the head of the Eastern Railway at Northam (the name “Yilgarn Railway’ was replaced with ‘Eastern Goldfields Railway’ in 1899-1900 and included, at that time, the lines from Northam to Kalgoorlie, the Boulder Loopline Railway, and the lines from Kalgoorlie to Kanowna and Menzies). Before the line had reached Southern Cross however, the Coolgardie, and then Kalgoorlie, gold finds were made. The line to Southern Cross was opened on 1 July 1894, and tenders were called for the construction of the line from Southern Cross to Coolgardie….. At this point, there was no intention to extend the line to Kalgoorlie, but the Kalgoorlie Miner and local mine owners and businessmen began a campaign to have the line taken the extra 24 miles. Plans were already underway to construct a branch line to Menzies, and both Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie were vying to be the junction for this line and thus become the centre of the railway system and the centre of the eastern goldfields. One argument for the extension was that it would allow the import of heavy machinery for the opening up of deep mines on the Golden Mile. In September 1895, a bill was passed to extend the railway line to Kalgoorlie. The Wilkie Brothers were contracted to immediately continue on when the line reached Coolgardie, which it did on 23 March 1896. The railway line reached Kalgoorlie on 8 September 1896.”
THE WARDEN OF COOLGARDIE
Limerick man John Michael Finnerty gave Coolgardie its name. He got it from the indigenous Coolcaby or Coola Garbi Gnamma, the name for a mulga tree at a water hole beside the spot where his house would be built in 1895 by one Robert Bunning (one of the two English brothers who set up timber mills in Western Australia that would eventually grow into the DIY hardware chain we know today). Finnerty was Coolgardie’s first resident magistrate and mining warden and he would have a major influence over the gold boom town. Just two years later at the peak of the gold rush, Coolgardie was the third biggest town in WA, with a population of 25,000 in the city and district and more than 700 mining companies. Coolgardie was so successful and focused on mining that a World Exhibition to celebrate the industry was held in 1899. More than 60,000 people are said to have attended the event. At a site known as Fly Flat in August 1892, prospectors William Ford and Arthur Bayley found more than 500oz of gold. Two weeks later Bayley turned up in Southern Cross, nearly 190km away, to register the claim with the mining warden there, Finnerty. The find equivalent to about $800,000 in today’s money kickstarted the last and largest gold rush in Australia that swelled the population of the colony fourfold inside a decade. Finnerty rode out to inspect the find for himself and while he was there is said to have stopped at a rock hole and written down its Aboriginal name. His telegram to Perth about the find triggered the gold rush. It read: “Very rich quartz reef… Gold has been picked up on the
Left: The Coolgardie house that Warden Finnerty and his family lived in. Below left: John Michael Finnerty
surface four miles square in granite, ironstone and greenstone.” Finnerty is credited with saving countless lives as a result of his ability to persuade the government to install water tanks along the road to the remote outback location. In 1894 he was transferred from Southern Cross to Coolgardie, where his house – which has been preserved in pristine condition – was built a year later. For the next six years, Coolgardie would be home to the Finnerty family and they continued to thrive. But in 1900, he was ordered to Kalgoorlie, a move which signalled the rise in significance of the new goldfields town and the dramatic decline of Coolgardie. In 1911 he retired and lived near Geraldton where he died in December 1913. He was survived by three children but the headstone on his grave was erected by his “goldfields friends”. The Australian Dictionary of Biography gives us this description of the kind of man he was. “He had been a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Freemason and president of the Coolgardie Liedertafel. With the rank of lieutenant-colonel he commanded the Goldfields Regiment of the Volunteer Defence Force. A great raconteur, he wore a full beard with a 'walrus' moustache and had a commanding but genial presence. He was a big man, physically and officially, good at his job. For twenty-five years Finnerty interpreted the mining acts with discretion and his decisions were respected. As a bushman, his authority and leadership were accepted in the camps: no officer of the Crown was held in higher regard in the mining community.”
RICH PICKINGS ON THE GOGGLE-BOX
One of the essential pieces of equipment early gold seekers would have needed in their desperate searches was a pick to help unearth nuggets of the precious metal. Picks are of course still a useful tool today, but arguably their role in modern day treasure hunting has been overtaken by the evolution of ‘picking’ – finding valuables and collectables and its rise as a form of entertainment. TV screens are crowded with these type of shows, but for my money the best one around is a local WA production I only discovered recently. On Wednesday nights in the weeks leading up to Christmas, I would settle down to watch Desert Collectors on 7Mate. The show follows Kalgoorlie based trader and dealer Nigel Quick as he hits the highways and dirt roads of WA and beyond in search of interesting artefacts for the weekly online auction his business runs. Quick – who owns Star City Memorabilia in Kalgoorlie – finds amazing similar minded people whose collections could be thousands of old fashioned hand tools, glass bottles discarded by the first generation of Goldfielders now worth a fortune, or petrol heads with dozens of vintage or custom cars stashed away in their garages or even collections of die cast model cars in their home. Nigel does pick up some items but that seems to take a back seat to his natural ability to talk and laugh with people to bring out their passion projects, no matter what they happen to be.
SALT OF THE EARTH PEOPLE
In one episode, the treasure seeker visits an incredible location in WA I had somehow never heard about. He was at Lake Ballard, a large salt lake (50km long and 20km wide) in the Shire of Menzies in the Goldfields-Esperance area. This stark but beautiful landscape is also the setting for the outstanding “Inside Australia” art project. The lake is populated by a scattering of 51 metal figures – The Salt People – commissioned by the Perth International Arts Festival in 2003 to mark the festival’s 50th anniversary. The sculptor chosen to create this other-worldly installation was Sir Antony Gormely. Gormley specialises in creating unusual and interesting expressions of the human form including the landmark Angle of the North monument in the UK, amongst many other public artworks. Gormley is from the UK but has Irish roots. His paternal grandfather was a Catholic from Derry who settled in Walsall in West Midlands County of England and married a local girl. Under his father’s influence, Gormley was raised as a Catholic and with his Irish heritage. He was one of the artists who took part in the opening exhibition of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 1991, and has exhibited and spoken at the museum on a number of occasions since. In January 2016 he told an Irish Times journalist he loved Ireland and why. “I love that it’s full of interesting people, kind people, people who have a different attitude to time,” he said. Gormley also explained why most of his artworks are generally set in such places like Lake Ballard rather than in museums or gallerys. “I felt I didn’t need the blessing of institutional approval,” he said. “I know you could say, ‘Well that was because you weren’t getting any’, but actually I was. I’ve been quite fortunate in that respect.” While it would take a special kind of dedication and effort to get around to see all 51 Salt People (‘Inside Australia’ is one of – if not - the biggest art installations in the world after all), but those who have seen even one or a few generally report that it was well worth the effort. The nearest settlement to the Lakes is the hamlet of Menzies, some 130km north of Kalgoorlie.
Left: Nigel Quick, host of the WA produced TV show, Desert Collectors
Top: One of the otherworldly “Salt People” sculptures by Sir Antony Gormely, at Lake Ballard in Western Australia. Above: Maria and Joe Mellett of Mellett’s Emporium in Co Mayo
During the gold rush era, Menzies had more than 10,000 people living in it, but today has a resident population of around 100. All the Salt People figures are modelled on people from Menzies who agreed to strip down and pose for the artist.
PICK OF THE BUNCH
I discovered Desert Collectors by virtue of the fact that it was on 7Mate straight after a programme that caught my attention as soon as I saw it listed, Irish Pickers. A big fan of American Pickers itself, this was one I had to watch. The Irish version follows a very similar format to the original show, basically two men – Ian Dowling (founder of rareirishstuff.com) and his sidekick Mark ‘Butzy’ Butterly, drive around the country in a van hunting out artefacts and antiques in all types of places (from castles and farm yards to pubs and homes) and selling them for a profit, supported by the brains of the operation Ali Foy at their office (above Mulligans Pub in Poolbeg Street, Dublin) with ‘Vintage’ Vinny Smith. Dowling approached the makers of American Pickers and convinced them to back his idea for an Irish version. The show is great as it takes the viewer around and across Ireland and introduces viewers to all sorts of local characters and stories, familiar sights and sounds no doubt to Irish watchers. Most of the stuff they find is of Irish historical interest, but in the episode where the boys travel to Swinford, Co. Mayo and went picking in Mellett’s Emporium, there was an Australia Post mail bag hanging on the wall. Curious about why such a thing should be on display amongst the collections and displays, I tried to call the pub after the show (when it was still day time in Ireland) but got no answer. This went on for about a week until finally the phone was answered by Maria, who together with her dad Joe Mellett runs Mellett’s Emporium. It turned out the pub had to shut down for a while because several members of the family – including Maria herself – and staff all got Covid and they had to go into isolation. It was Maria’s first day back in the historic pub. She said everyone had recovered but got a bad enough dose of the virus, even those double vaccinated. It transpired that the Australia Post bag was souvenired by her brother from the time he spent in Australia about twenty years ago and he wanted it to display in the pub. Turns out Maria too has spent a bit of time Downunder. She said that about ten years ago she spent three months in Perth where she “lived the backpackers dream”, drinking and working away. She worked for a bank collecting the mail in the morning, which she said was the easiest job she ever had. She also spent about five months working for an insurance company in Brisbane. Good luck to Maria and her family and staff as they get back to normal after their encounter with the virus. Meanwhile, two seasons of a reality TV show called Aussie Pickers with Lucas Callaghan and Adam McDonald were made in 2013 and 2014 but not since. Filming on a third season of Desert Collectors just wrapped up in December and our fingers are crossed for a second series of Irish Pickers that will hopefully make its way to Aussie screens again. ☘