After walks and breakfast, we drove out into the sticks where Klas and Mona are camped with their friends, Kristina and Wolfgang. They are all mad keen on detecting for gold. We had mornos with them and a good catch up; it was fantastic to see them again. Tomorrow we will meet up with them in town and then follow them to another spot near Laverton, where they will continue their quest for that big nugget.
Back to the van for lunch. We then rode out to the Gwalia Ghost Town which is an old gold mining town that has been restored to it's original 'glory'. That work continues today, mostly with a team of dedicated volunteers. It is a unique heritage site that has national and international significance. The town was once the home to about 1 000 hardy souls in the late 1890s. They came from all over the world for the gold and its promise of wealth. Up to the time the mine closed in 1963, it was the sixth largest gold mine in Australia and had produced over two million ounces of gold. Today the town of Gwalia has a huge population of about 15-20. It amazing that after all that mining, today there's still a very profitable mining operation being conducted practically right on top of the old mines. Extraction techniques have certainly improved over the years.
We also visited the on-site Gwalia Museum, which is very well done
Back home for an afternoon cuppa, exercises/stretches, before completing the night time routine.
Rumble strips on the walk this morning
Sunrise at Leonora, a bit ordinary
Mornos with Klas and Mona
Gold mining display just South of Leonora. the display shows a load of ore in a tipping dray being drawn by a horse, with a prospector, sledge hammer in hand, breaking ore prior to shovelling it into the battery (stamp mill)
Gwalia Ghost Town
Mazza's Store. Timber frame (Oregon and Jarrah) with corrugated galvanised iron cladding. Closed in 1964, it operated for more than 50 years, providing a true 'one-stop-shop' selling everything from soap to ammunition
Little Pink Camp, built of timber and corrugated galvanised iron, hessian walls, papered with newspapers. It has a plank, rather than dirt floor. The yards were for keeping goats and poultry
Patroni's Guest Home. A complex of several dwellings and a multiple-gabled main building was constructed with a timber frame and galvanised iron cladding, with a latticed verandah on the main building. Used mainly by single men, with those who lived in their own homes often eating at the Home also.
State Hotel. Built by the State in 1903 to give the town a licensed premise and so lessen the sly-grog trade. It is one of only four brick buildings in Gwalia and cost £6 000. In 1919, during the worldwide influenza epidemic, it was used as a temporary hospital
The Headframe
Gwalia gold mine
Current gold standard mining PPE; nothing like what they had back in the day - bare chested, no gloves, etc
Gwalia swimming pool. Its main purpose was to serve as a good head of water in case of fire, but it also provided a very welcome community facility. It was the second public swimming pool built in Western Australia
Some of the murals around Leonora
We almost rode over the artist of this one
Leonora Masonic hall
