Gwalia
Gwalia Home
Having lived in Leonora for a few years, I’m familiar with the old Gwalia historical site. It is 233 km north of Kalgoorlie and around 828 km east of Perth on the edge of Western Australia’s Great Victoria Desert. If you are heading east along the Great Central Highway to Northern Territory Great Central Highway to Northern Territory, Great Central Highway to Northern Territory, it is worth a visit.
The Mine
The gold mine was first discovered in 1896, and Bewick Moreing & Compan,y an English firm, sent the 23-year-old mining engineer Herbert Hoover to inspect the Sons of Gwalia mine. Herbert saw its potential, and on 17 November 1897, Bewick Moreing purchased the mine. Herbert Hoover of course, went on to be the 31st President of the United States. The mine has had a checkered career, going through several busts and boom cycles.
Nevertheless, during 1897-1963 the mine produced 2.644 million ounces (82.24 tonnes) of gold down to a depth of 1,080 metres (3,543 ft) using an incline shaft. The Sons of Gwalia grew to become the most significant Western Australian gold mine outside Kalgoorlie and the deepest of its kind in Australia. The recovered (1897–1963) amounts in value to somewhere in the vicinity of AU$7 billion at Dec 2022 prices.
Gwalia Mining Shack
Gwalia History
The historical collection represents mining activities over those of Gwalia Mine (1896-1963). This includes the commercial and domestic life in Gwalia and Leonora and pastoralism in the surrounding area since 1896. The collection comprises existing buildings and structures from the Mine and town as well as objects. Including documents, books, textiles, photographs, artwork, machinery, equipment and furniture. You can easily spend hours wandering through the corrugated iron huts. Even for an old hand, it is a reminiscent opportunity to see household items and how life was back then. For the more fanatic historians, you can occupy a whole day.
The historical township maintains a dedicated website which can be viewed here.