This week we continue eastward from Coolgardie seen in week 49, and arrive at Kalgoorlie. You might remember from week 49, that the Perth to Kalgoorlie pipeline ends here.
The discovery of gold by Paddy Hannan in 1893 led to one of Australia's great gold rushes. Since then Kalgoorlie-Boulder has developed into a major service hub for Western Australia's gold resource industry. Dominated by magnificent historic architecture, Hannan and Burt Streets provide a focus for modern cafés, restaurants, hotels, and a pub on every street corner. As in this photo of the Exchange Hotel.
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| From Western Australia |
The huge KCGM Super Pit stretches along the eastern flank of the twin City, dominating the skyline - You don't visit Kalgoorlie without going to the SuperPit lookout. The huge dump trucks (see lower right) look like toy trucks from up here. The Super Pit is 3.5 kilometre long and 1.5 kilometre wide and produces 800,000 ounces of goold each year.
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| From Western Australia |
To learn more about the history of Kalgoorlie and the mining industry, take a visit to the Australian Prospectors and Miners Hall of Fame - the gold once hauled on wooden carts is now carted by these huge dump trucks.
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| From Western Australia |
Kalgoorlie boasts colourful characters and culture - you can take tour to the traditional two-up game - it's a bushy gambling game where you throw two coins up in the air and bet on what comes down heads or tails - held out in the bush in a corrugated iron "building"....
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| From Western Australia |
Here are some more pics from Kalgoorlie..........
one of the more unusual designed hotels.....
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| From Western Australia |
The government buildings clock tower...
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| From Western Australia |
The Court Hotel in Boulder.....
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| From Western Australia |
And for something completely different - a yellow flowering Eucalypt tree.....
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| From Wildflowers |
As always Jill, terrific pictures with a story. The hotel looks inviting, can you get a really cold "tinny" there? The hole in the ground is enormous, it must be quite a scary view looking down. The tonka toy is absolutely huge, lol. Ok, whats the limit on the two up,would you believe we played this at school, cured me of gambling.
ReplyDeleteBillmac, Neilston, Scotland
Wow, that's a massive pit! The days of the shovel and gold pan are long, long gone. I grew up near a copper mine and it isn't near that size. They do have some of the huge haul trucks like that though.
ReplyDeleteThe architecture of the hotels and clock tower is also great. TFS!
Christina, Canada