DAY 88 – Kalgoorlie

Good Morning Kalgoorlie!
 
Low 2°c (36°F) – High 20°c (68°F)
26km
 
These fresh mornings are making it really tough to get out of bed but the promise of a nice sunny day (and a little help from the caravan heating) got us started for the morning.  After a leisurely start to the day (and swapping around the last few things on the line from Mega Wash, we headed out to have a look around Kalgoorlie – finally.
 
Kalgoorlie is located in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia and is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includes the historic townsite of Boulder.  Kalgoorlie-Boulder lies on the traditional lands of the Wangkatja group of peoples.  At June 2018, Kalgoorlie–Boulder had an estimated urban population of 29,849, the fifth most populous city in Western Australia.  
 
The city was established in 1893 during the Western Australian gold rushes when prospectors Patrick (Paddy) Hannan, Tom Flanagan, and Dan Shea were the first to find gold near Mount Charlotte, less than 40 kilometres from the existing Coolgardie Goldfields. Hannan, Flanagan and Shea were following a large number of prospectors who set out for a rumoured new prospect at Mount Youle.  One version of the story of the find has it that on the night of 14 June 1893, Hannan found gold in a gully. Not wanting to cause a rush, he concealed the find. During the night the trio moved one of their horses into the scrub. The following morning Hannan informed the main party they were going to stay behind to find their lost horse. After the main group moved off east, the three men started to pick up the gold and peg out their lease.
 
By law, those finding "payable" gold were required to report the fact to the warden's office within seven days, so Hannan set off for Coolgardie to register their find, doing so on 17 June 1893.  Hannan registered the claim in Flanagan's name as well as his own and within hours a stampede began. It was estimated that about 400 men were prospecting in the area within three days, and over 1,000 within a week.  Kalgoorlie, originally called Hannan's Find, was born. It soon replaced Coolgardie as the largest settlement on the Eastern Goldfields.
 
The mining of gold, along with other metals such as nickel, has been a major industry in Kalgoorlie ever since and today employs about one-quarter of Kalgoorlie's workforce and generates a significant proportion of its income Employees must live in Kalgoorlie; there's no fly-in, fly-out operation.  The concentrated area of large gold mines surrounding the original Hannan's find is often referred to as the Golden Mile, and was sometimes referred to as the world's richest square mile of earth.
 
Places, famous or infamous, for which Kalgoorlie is noted include its water pipeline bringing in fresh water from Mundaring Weir near Perth, its Hay Street brothels, its two-up school, the goldfields railway loopline, the Kalgoorlie Town Hall, the Paddy Hannan statue/drinking fountain, the Super Pit, and Mount Charlotte lookout. Its main street is Hannan Street, named after the town's founder. One of the infamous brothels also serves as a museum and is a major national attraction.  Australian actor, director, producer, writer, and businessman John Cornell (best known for his role as "Strop" on The Paul Hogan Show) was born in Kalgoorlie.  John was also instrumental in the introduction of World Series Cricket in 1977.
 
Our first impression of the town was drawn to the architecture with so many stunning buildings, especially the old pubs with their second storey verandahs and design of some of the building facades.  There is an effort to preserve and maintain the heritage buildings that contributed to the history of the town and of course the wide streets that enabled camel trains to be turned without unhitching.
 
We ventured up to the Mount Charlotte Reservoir, high above the town and also serving as a great lookout for almost 360 degrees. The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is the pipeline (which we followed from Merredin) and dam project that delivers potable water from Mundaring Weir in Perth to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The project was commissioned in 1896 and completed in 1903.
The pipeline continues to operate today, supplying water to over 100,000 people in over 33,000 households as well as mines, farms and other enterprises.
 
The scheme was devised by Irish engineer Charles O'Connor who oversaw its design and most of the construction project.  Although supported by Western Australia’s first Premier, John Forrest, O'Connor had to deal with widespread criticism and derision from members of the Western Australian Parliament as well as the local press based on a belief that the scope of the engineering task was too great and that it would never work.  There was also a concern that the gold deposits would soon be depleted, and the state would have a significant debt to repay but little or no commerce to support it.  Sunday Times editor Frederick Vosper – who was also a politician, ran a personal attack on O'Connor's integrity and ability through the paper. Timing was critical, Forrest as a supporter had moved into Federal politics, and the new Premier George Leake had long been an opponent of the scheme.
 
O'Connor died by suicide in March 1902 less than 12 months before the final commissioning of the pipeline.  Wife of the Premier, Lady Margaret Forrest, officially started the steam driven pumping machinery at Pumping Station Number One (Mundaring) on 22 January, and on 24 January 1903 water flowed into the Mount Charlotte Reservoir at Kalgoorlie.  O'Connor's engineer-in-chief, C. S. R. Palmer took over the project after his death, seeing it through to its successful completion.  The government conducted an inquiry into the scheme and found no basis for the press accusations of corruption or misdemeanours on the part of O'Connor.
 
There isn’t much to see of the of the reservoir as it is completely fenced off and covered but the story behind it and the fact that it is still considered one of the greatest engineering feats being the world’s longest fresh-water pipeline made the visit worthwhile.
 
From there we visited the Fimiston Open Pit (Super Pit) which is an open-cut gold mine about 3.6 km (2.2 mi) long, 1.6 km (1.0 mi) wide, and over 600 m (1,969 ft) deep and located right at the edge of town. Originally consisting of a large number of underground mines they were consolidated into a single open pit mine in 1989.  The mine operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and blasts at 1:00 pm every day, unless winds would carry dust over the town. Each of the massive trucks carries 225 tonnes of rock and the round trip takes about 35 minutes, most of that time being the slow uphill haul.
 
It’s hard to comprehend the size of the pit (really “super” doesn’t even touch the sides).  The massive trucks hauling rock out of there look like tonka toys as they make their way up the tracks.  Have a look at the photos where I’ve zoomed in on a couple of vehicles and see where they are circled on a zoomed out version.  Mind boggling.
 
After driving around town a little more we decided to go and have a look at Hannan’s North Tourist Mine, which for those Victorians is a little like a wannabe Sovereign Hill.  It was interesting, but unfortunately not a patch on its Victorian cousin.  Still we enjoyed wandering around looking at some of the things, especially given the gorgeous day, until my ankle said enough, and we headed back to camp.  And another lovely evening sitting outside until the mosquitoes made an appearance and I headed indoors.  We packed everything outside in an effort to make moving on tomorrow a little easier.