NB. The only photos I have are of the station entrance at Kalgoorlie and of the Indian Pacific at the platform.
If you would like to see more photos of Kalgoorlie and the Super Pit then please view on this link: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/kalgoorlie
We were due to arrive in Kalgoorlie for our first Off-Train Experience around 8.00pm but delayed by freight train movements it was 9.15pm before we detrained and were bussed to Hannan's North Tourist Mine and later – much later as it turned out – for a visit to the Super Pit.
The discovery of gold by Paddy Hannan in 1893 sparked the greatest gold rush in Australian history and his legacy remains. The 100 ounces of gold Paddy found in the area became the richest mile in the world today and today, the Super Pit as it is known, has so far produced 58 million ounces of the precious metal.
Before I write about our Off Train Experience, however, let me tell you something about Kalgoorlie. What follows is a precis from the following website: https://www.britannica.com/place/Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie-Boulder is a city, located 595 km (370 miles) east-northeast of Perth in south-central Western Australia and was formed by the administrative merger of the neighbouring towns of Boulder and Kalgoorlie in 1989. Today, it's it the principal settlement of the East Coolgardie goldfield, on the western fringe of the Nullarbor Plain and the Great Victoria Desert.
Mining began with a rush following the 1893 discovery of gold by a prospector named Paddy Hannan at a site 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Coolgardie. The main deposit of deep rich ores came to be known as the Golden Mile reef, and the area developed as Hannan's Find. Kalgoorlie, the name given in 1894 to the town that grew there, is a corruption of the Aboriginal word galgurli, or karlkurla, meaning "silky pear," a local plant also called the bush banana.
Gold production reached a peak in 1903 and then, with the depletion of surface deposits, declined until 1929. Improvements in mining and processing methods and gold prices brought a degree of stabilization until the early 1970s but by the end of 1978, only one major gold mine was still in operation. Rising prices in the 1980s, however, brought about a revival of gold mining and exploration, and a single owner sought to combine all the small mining operations in the area during that decade. The consolidation process was completed by other parties in 1989 in a joint venture to run what is now known as the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, one of the world's largest open-cut mines. I will explain more about the Super Pit in another post but feel free to click on this link to learn more about this huge opencast mine.
Today Nickel has become a significant mineral product of the region after discovery of the ore in 1966 at Kambalda (37 miles [60 km]) south of Kalgoorlie. It rapidly became a service centre for the industry, with a large nickel smelter that opened in 1973. Other industries include ore-treatment plants, foundries, engineering works, and breweries. In its heyday Kalgoorlie was well known in Western Australia for its illegal, but tolerated, two-up (gambling) ring and its Hay Street brothel district about which we learnt more than I really wated to know from our lady coach driver but more about that in another post!
One feature that had puzzled me in the course of the afternoon was the wide diameter concrete pipeline that ran alongside the rail tracks. Conversations with fellow guests concluded that this pipeline must be for water and this proved to be correct.
Kalgoorlie is on the fringe of the Nullarbor Plain and Great Victoria Desert, so in an arid region. In 1903 Kalgoorlie became part of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, which transports water from the Mundaring Weir on the Helena River, 15 miles (24 km) east of Perth. Kalgoorlie is just short of 600 km from Perth! You can see a photo of this pipeline in the link at the head of this post.
