Abbotts is an
abandoned
Abandon, abandoned, or abandonment may refer to:
Common uses
* Abandonment (emotional), a subjective emotional state in which people feel undesired, left behind, insecure, or discarded
* Abandonment (legal), a legal term regarding property
** Chi ...
town in Western Australia located in the
Murchison Goldfields region of
Western Australia and north-west of
Meekatharra on the MeekatharraMount Clere Road.
The townsite was initially established in 1898 and gazetted in 1900, and is named after a
prospector
Prospector may refer to:
Space exploration
* Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962
* ''Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft
Trains
* Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ra ...
named Vincent Vrauizan who had changed his name to Vincent Abbott in 1893.
One of the earliest mines to open was the Black Iguana. In 1895 the Black Iguana and the Abbotts mine were both operating ten head
stamp mill
A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operatio ...
s in the town for processing ore.
In 1902, all of the boarders at Abbott's Hotel were
poison
Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...
ed by eating tinned
beetroot
The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...
; many of the victims were given
emetics, which were administered "with much success". No fatalities were recorded from the incident.
The townsite is one of many ghost towns in the area; others include
Peak Hill,
Gabanintha, Horseshoe and Garden Gully.
References
Ghost towns in the Mid West of Western Australia
Shire of Meekatharra
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