Description
This is a sepia-toned map showing the location of gold-mining centres and roads west, north and east of Coolgardie, Western Australia, published in the 'Traveller's Guide to Western Australia' in 1894. The map has a scale of 10 miles to 1 inch (about 16 km to 2.5 cm) and relief is shown by hachures. On the left of the map, beneath the title and scale, are the words 'Published by/ E.S. WIGG and SON, / Adelaide, Perth, / Broken Hill and London'. The map measures 26.2 cm x 36.0 cm.
Educational value
- Maps such as this one would have been used by prospectors setting off in search of gold in WA's arid eastern gold fields in the mid-1890s. The map not only shows the tracks, directions and distances they needed to travel, but also includes places where they could obtain water (the W following some names stands for 'well').
- The names of many of the places are shown as they were when gold was discovered. Some are no longer known by their original names. Hannan's is now Kalgoorlie. Some places were simply named for their distance from Coolgardie, such as 90 Mile, which is now Goongarrie, and the spelling of some has changed, such as Woolgangee to Woolgangie.
- The map shows the stock route. This route was the original road, but by the time this plan was published a new, shorter track had been cleared via Bullabulling (today Bulla Bulling). Teamsters used the old road because it went via Gnarlbine Well, where spare horses and sheep for slaughtering could be kept near water until needed.
- Two sources of water, Moorowing (Rock) and Gnarlbine Well, are shown. The people of Coolgardie largely relied on these supplies until the Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme, later known as the Golden Pipeline, was opened in 1903. During times of severe water shortage, permits were issued to draw water from Gnarlbine Well.
- Siberia, the site of a disastrous gold rush in October 1893, is shown. News of a find caused many prospectors to travel to this arid area. The nearest remaining source of water at Moorowing Rock had to be protected by firearms when 600 thirsty men and their desperate animals rushed it. No-one really knows how many men perished of dehydration in the heat.
- This map is taken from an early travel guide for newcomers to WA. Such guides were popular with prospectors, and give an indication of Australiawide and international interest in the Coolgardie gold fields. This particular guide described three routes to Coolgardie, involving ships, trains and road travel. Another guide gave a list of watering places and the distances between them, and recommended cycling from the head of the railway line as the quickest means of travel.
- Coolgardie features as a town site. On 24 August 1893, less than a year after Bayley and Ford's discovery of gold, what started off as Fly Flat was declared a town. A constant stream of distinguished mining experts and financiers from overseas visited this 'Mecca of the West', swelling the population to 4,000. By 1894, when this map was published, there were 60 shops, six chemists, 12 hotels, six restaurants and three places of worship.
- The map refers to the Hampton Lands and Railway Syndicate. This company very nearly owned both the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold fields. When an 1866 expedition to the area optimistically reported good pastoral prospects, the London-based company secured freehold title to 216,000 acres (87,412 ha), primarily for grazing but including all mineral rights. If the boundaries had been slightly different, the as-yet-undiscovered gold fields would have belonged to it. A subsidiary company of the syndicate, the Coolgardie Water Works, instead bored for water and constructed dams to supply fresh and salt water to the town and mining companies. They continued these activities until the water supply pipeline from a dam near Perth was completed.
