Gwalia Ghost Town

Gwalia began as a shanty town that sprouted up around the Sons of Gwalia Mine, once the deepest mine of its kind in Australia, in the late 1890s. Men soon flocked to the town to work in the mine, turning the desert settlement into a booming community. At its peak, 1,114 people called the town home. A nasty mine fire in the 1920s closed the mine for three years, signaling the start of the town’s demise. Workers left in search of jobs in other mines, and Gwalia’s population never quite recovered even after business kicked back up again. The mine, too, never fully bounced back. Also a interesting visit is to Hoover House near the mine which originally was the mine managers home but now a bed and breakfast and museum. Herbert Hoover prior to the American presidency arrived in Kalgoorlie as a young geologist straight out of Stanford University, in 1897. Hoover worked for a British mining company, Bewick, Moreing & Co, who sent him to the Western Australian goldfields as a manager. He later returned to America and eventually became the president of America. The old home and museum is well worth the visit.