Faded Colour

The discoveries of gold on the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia saw prospectors flocking from interstate and the coast in the hope of striking it rich. In the 1890s some 400 mining settlements developed in the area of Coolgardie, 350 miles from the Port of Fremantle, and not less than 40 of these were subsequently gazetted as townships that acquired houses, pubs, shops, post offices, police stations, schools and all the usual amenities. Then, as the gold ran out, the towns were erased leaving only the holes that were dug or were occupied by those who expired before the towns. This is the story of them.