2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Sun, 2nd Oct, 2016 Garden Rock, E of Cue to The Granites, N of Mt Magnet, WA (Cue history walk)

7.30am 14 degrees, still gusty cold wind but sunny with patchy clouds in the west.

Sent Kayleigh a happy birthday text.

Headed back to Cue to do the town history walk. First stop before town was the late 1890s cemetery. It is thought that 9 bodies were moved here from their original graves in 1897, to make way for the railway station. No other info here.

Next turnoff was up to the lookout. Great view north though the wind was freezing.

Mum rang to let me know she wasn’t well, flu and bad cough. I know I can’t do anything but I like to know and at least chat about it. I would much rather hear from her then someone else telling me.

A cairn marks the spot of the survey mark.

Walked around the other side for another view. First the old cemetery.

Then the town.

Into town - nicely painted toilets at the back of the Gentlemen’s Club which is now the Shire Office.

Info from the trail brochure - Originally built in 1895 by the London and WA Investment Company was known as ‘Murchison Chambers’. It housed 18 offices and 2 shops. One business was Bewick Moreing & Co, an international mining consultancy based in London, which managed the operations of many British mining companies in WA. Among the company’s employees was a young American mining engineer, Herbert Hoover, who arrived in Kalgoorlie in 1895 and later became President of USA (1929 to 1932). Hoover was first employed as a mining consultant and was then appointed General Manger of the ‘Sons of Gwalia’ mine near Leonora in May 1898. When work commitments occasionally brought him to Cue he usually stayed at Murchison Chambers. In Jan 1901 the Murchison Club, a high ranking social institution of Cue, moved from their club rooms in Darlot St into the upper storey of the Murchison Chambers where it stayed for many years. As a result the place eventually became known as the Gentleman’s Club. The building was restored and refurbished in 1985-86 for the Cue Shire Council.

Wish they didn’t use these metal boards as it is very hard to read in bright sunshine.

Across the road is the Murchison Club Hotel – not so flash. It was built in 1894 and has been continuously servicing the community and travellers since 1896. The second floor was built in 1934. Some people believe that ghosts are still wandering in and around the Hotel/Pub.

Heading north we pass the Government Buildings. They were made from locally quarried limestone slabs and were designed to house the offices of a number of government departments such as the Warden’s Court, Post Office, Mines Department and Police Station (including the Sub-inspectors quarters, gaol cells and morgue). Some believe the ghost of an inmate still lurks in his gaol cell. Construction was mostly completed in 1896 with substantial additions made in 1897 and 1898. The building is still used for government purposes. The town clock had been promised by Sir John Forrest when he arrived for the opening of the railway line in 1897, but it was not installed until February 1898 after alterations were made to the Post Office to accommodate the clock tower. The staff weren’t as happy as it had to be wound each day.

Further down the street on the opposite side to the police station was the old Gaol Cells. These were built in 1896 as a temporary home for prisoners being transported from other lockups in the North until its official closure in 1914. However it was still used as a lockup till the 1930s. It has a central open yard surrounded by cells and is considered unusual as it is not attached to the police station. At the time of building the local police force consisted of a Sub-Inspector and 24 men, including several aboriginal trackers, numbers necessary to maintain law and order in a gold mining town. Later it was used as an ablution block for the caravan park next door but has been unused since 1977. Old bits and pieces are on display in one of the cells.

A pots and pans tree and an old 1926 Chevy truck and other bits and pieces are on display outside.

Couldn’t help take a photo of another signwriter’s mistake – Residents should be Residence!!

Along the fence line of the van park are old Pensioner Huts. In 1958 the Council had six buildings removed from the former hospital at Big Bell township and relocated here as homes for pensioners. Looks like one is used and the others are still being renovated.

The goat and cart was driven by children to deliver beer supplies around town.

Stockman silhouette alongside the Rabbit Proof Fence. Another metal sign that is too hard to read.

Wow they even have a water park.

Around to the school. The first classroom was built in 1896 with a 14 foot (4.3m) high iron roof to provide good ventilation for the hot summers. A second and larger classroom was added in 1898 to cater for 40 additional students. Another classroom was built of brick and stone in 1904. These three buildings are still being used today. Helen Helga Wilson (nee Mayne), an Australian author and the first historian of the Murchison goldfields, began her schooling here in 1905. She was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1980 for her contribution to literature.

The original Shire Hall was burnt to the ground in 1955 after it was struck by lightning. This hall started its life as the change rooms at the Big Bell gold mine. It was dismantled and brought to Cue and officially opened in 1957.

The Masonic Lodge was built in 1899 of timber and galvanized (corrugated) iron with a pressed metal interior. Iron was used a lot in the goldfields as it was easily transported by camels. It is said to be the biggest, free standing, double story corrugated iron structure in the southern hemisphere. Regular meetings were held here till 1979 when membership declined. It now belongs to the National Trust.

In its earliest years the Municipal Council in Cue held its meetings in the Warden’s Court tent until this stone building was opened in 1896. The first meeting was without furniture buy bb the next meeting the Councillors had 12 luxury Austrian bentwood chairs to sit on. The council shifted to the Post Office building in 1980 then into the Gentlemen’s Club in 1986. This building is now used by the Cue Visitors Centre, Craft Centre and Infant Health Centre.

In the early ears the Council lent the fire brigade ten 400 gallon (1800 litre) water tanks which were placed at the top well, near the Police Station. They had to be checked daily as the water supply was unreliable. This building was built in 1936 and its unremarkable style is typical of that time. The Cue Volunteer Fire Brigade was founded by James Paterson Campbell in 1894 and they still serve the town today though they have a newer building next door. Unlike Day Dawn, Cue’s sister town down the road (which had a Municipal Brigade) the Cue Brigade was wholly volunteer. It competed at the first official fire brigade demonstration at Fremantle in 1898 and won the State Demonstration eight times between 1902 and 1915. John Barkell Holman, Cue Brigade’s hydrant man, entered parliament in 1902 and was one of the men responsible for introducing the Fire Brigade movement in WA.

In the empty block below Kintore Blow is a silhouette representing the gold mining days – miners with their dry blower searching for gold.

On the quartz blow known as Kintore Blow stands an aborigine looking over the town. The first gold was discovered near here in 1892 by Mike Fitzgerald with the assistance of ‘Governor’, one of his two aboriginal companions. Fitzgerald and a friend Edward Hefferman, pegged a lease on what was then known as Kintore Reef and a week later they found about 260 ounces (over 7kg). They told Tom Cue who dug up nuggets of his own and then rode the 80km north to Nannine to register their claim. Within days of notice of this new find being posted on the Mining Warden’s door, over 400 men had rushed to the area. A year later the town of Cue was officially proclaimed, becoming its own municipality in 1894. The town grew rapidly and soon boasted a population of around 10,000. The town once contained 11 hotels and numerous fine buildings it faded fast after the first World War. By the 1940s the population was less than 1000 and it has continued to fall since.

We climbed to the top of Kintore Blow where the water tanks were installed to provide the first reticulated water in the WA Goldfields. This only serviced Austin Street though and wasn’t very successful, but it was considered a notable achievement for ‘little Cue’ by the Murchison Advocate in 1900. The foundation stone was laid by the Lady Mayoress, Mrs BC O’Brien on 1^st August, 1900 and by July the following year pipes had been laid to the Murchison Club Hotel. Despite its failings it was many ears before a better scheme was provided.

Good view over the town from here too. Looks like a good mural to inspect.

WA’s first Premier, Sir John Forrest, promised a railway line to Cue in 1894 but it was not until Tuesday, 20^th April, 1897 that he, his wife and a hundred special guests arrived here on the first train from Perth greeted by over 1500 townsfolk. The railway station itself was built a year later in 1898. The railway line closed in 1978 and the station building was restored in 1986. Needing restoration again by the look of it.

Looking up to the lookout over an old crane used to load and unload the trains.

Walked back to the main road on the lush green grass!! There were even weeds growing up along the side of the artificial turf.

The Bank of NSW building was the collection centre for gold found in and around Cue. It is said that up to a ton of gold at a time could be transported from here which accounts for the large number of police who were employed during this time.

In the centre of the road is the Rotunda. It was built in 1904 on the site of the original town well which was the source of a typhoid fever outbreak. A water fountain has been installed now – hope it isn’t connected to the well!!

Shame so many of the old buildings are now empty – seems the fate for all these little towns.

Stopped at the Golden Art Shop to check out the great mural on the long fence.

Some more silhouettes depicting the gold mining days.

Another hotel.

As we wandered along the shops we read the notices on the shopfronts. This one made us laugh. If the tour is taken by the chap we spoke to it wouldn’t be much fun. Should ring up and make an appointment!!

Some big posters from the Murchison Times.

A painting of the open cut hole of the Great Fingall Mine with the office behind.

A nice war memorial spot with a tribute to one of the Day Dawn’s own.

Lovely roses everywhere too.

At the park where we left the truck and van was a noticeboard. Found a list of station owners in the area and noticed there are two for Austin Downs – maybe we got the ‘other’ one.

Heading south we passed a very long road train with four wagons.

Spotted a camel train. More info about the Canning Stock Route. They started the trip from Day Dawn (5km down the road).

Further along a track to the remains of the hospital which was built in 1895 and closed in 1942.

Some photos out of the brochure.

Back on the main road then turned off to the south west to Day Dawn. It was Cue’s sister town and for much of its early history the two towns developed side by side. Shortly after the initial discovery of gold in Cue, Edward Heffernan pegged out a reef five km south of the original find and called it the Day Dawn Reef. Mining on the reef had limited success until 1898 when the Great Fingall Company took over and developed a rich new shoot. The renamed Great Fingall then became the premier gold mine in WA. When the mine closed in 1918 the town’s population of around 1500 declined rapidly. The large open cut seen today is the result of a cave-in on 12^th October, 1921. Three men were working in the mine at the time but miraculously escaped when they were washed up the shaft by displaced mine water. In its prime Day Dawn had seven hotels, a soft drink factory, post office, race course, school, railway station and shopping area, but all that remains today is the Great Fingall Mine Office and a few stone remnants and old mine shafts. The Mine Office was built by Italian stonemasons around 1900. The Big Bell Gold Operation has the lease over the area now and the office is completely fenced off.

It’s amazing to think of the men working so deep (1200 feet) underground.

Nearby are some smaller shafts and old beams and pulleys.

We followed the track around the rock barrier and found the foundations of a building. Like the ones at Big Bell with timber floors inside and a concrete verandah around the house. You can still see the room divisions with the rocks underneath to support the walls.

Nice seeing all the pretty colours everywhere.

Went back to the truck and followed the track along and over a hill to another headframe over a mine shaft probably from later times.

This old timber one would have been from the old days though.

The Office building certainly needs some repairs.

We don’t have the right feeling about detecting here so decided to head south to Mt Magnet. It is so flat and open – we prefer the hills.

More areas of bright yellow flowers. Not everywhere as I thought they would be.

Another huge lake area – Lake Austin.

Pulled over in the rest area to check out the info board about the ‘island’ township of Austin. Called an island because it was on the narrow neck that ran between the two sides of Lake Austin. All that is left of the township area is the railway platform.

More of Lake Austin to the west.

Nearly at Mt Magnet when we turn off at tourist sign about Lennonville. This is another gold mining ghost town with the railway platform and a few bits of rubbish and rubble left to show there was a township here.

Another man-made hill nearby.

Continued along the dirt road towards town following the tourist trail signs. Huge open cut mine on the side of a hill.

Next stop was the Lennonville Cemetery – flash gates. A few names listed but only one tombstone. Other graves just outlined with rocks and scattered with old bits of bottles etc.

Some goats wandering through the scrub.

Huge waste dumps everywhere and below them the open cut mines.

Drove into town to the Visitors Centre and chatted with the lady there. She gave us a good tourist trail brochure – which we have partly done. I asked about free camping and she advised us we should be ok to go around the back of the Granites, though it does so ‘no camping’. Otherwise there is just the one caravan park at $27 per night. There is a good museum here which I will come back and visit tomorrow while Steve checks out the Mining Office.

Back out of town to the north 5km to the Granites. Big rocks and breakaways. Parked and had a cuppa then went for a wander.