The first shaft being built on the Ivanhoe gold mine on the Golden Mile in 1894. (Supplied: JJ Dwyer/Eastern Goldfields Historical Society) |
Two prospectors in 1893 thought they had discovered something special when they found a small patch of ground in outback WA, and today it remains one of the world's richest gold deposits.Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600km east of Perth, is famous for the Golden Mile that sparked the greatest gold rush Australia has seen, and it celebrates its 125th birthday this week.
Once considered the richest square mile on Earth, the Golden Mile has produced more than 60 million ounces of gold — and counting. At today's gold price of about $1,650 an ounce, that is the equivalent of about $100 billion worth of the precious metal.
This week marks 125 years since prospectors William Brookman and Samuel Pearce registered the Great Boulder lease, which has now been swallowed up by the Super Pit, Australia's most famous gold mine.Their find brought thousands more people to the Kalgoorlie gold rush, less than three months after prospectors Paddy Hannan, Thomas Flanagan and Dan Shea kicked it off with their discovery at Mount Charlotte a few miles away.Today's seven-hour drive from Perth to Kalgoorlie-Boulder took about five weeks in the early days of the rush, but there was no shortage of people willing to make the trip.
Eastern Goldfields Historical Society president Scott Wilson said the Golden Mile discovery remained significant on a global scale.The World Gold Council ranks it fifth on a list of the world's most productive gold districts.
"It's phenomenal really when you think of what it started, what it created by its gold production. It really did put Kalgoorlie on the map," he said."Paddy Hannan and his mates did very well to find the gold up at Kalgoorlie, but it was really what happened at this point onwards that made Kalgoorlie-Boulder famous throughout the world.
"There are lots of rich gold mines throughout the world, but the thing we have here in Kalgoorlie is the geological formation is so condensed in one area."
Brookman and Pearce were acting for a South Australian syndicate, and it was Brookman who rode into the nearby town of Coolgardie to register the Great Boulder lease on August 30, 1893. During the remainder of 1893, the pair went on to peg and register a total of 19 leases.
The Golden Mile, pictured here in 1895, was known as the richest square mile on Earth. (Supplied: Eastern Goldfields Historical Society) |
(...) Alan Bond vision a game-changer for Super Pit
One-third of the gold produced from the Golden Mile — just over 20 million ounces — has come from the Super Pit.
The architect of the Super Pit was the late businessman Alan Bond, who bought up all the mining leases in the 1980s and transformed the vast underground workings into one enormous open pit.
A century of mining on the Golden Mile left more than 3,500 kilometres of historical underground tunnels and shafts — about the equivalent of driving from Perth to Sydney — extending more than 1,200 metres below the surface.
The whole story and more photos on abc.net.au
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