Black Flag is an

abandoned town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, 30 km north west of

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

. It is on the Black Flag to Ora Banda Road in the Goldfields-Esperance region of

. The town derives its name from the Black Flag gold find that was discovered in 1893 when a prospector, R.H Henning, pegged the lease. The mine was producing and attracting more miners to the area in 1894, and the town was gazetted in 1897. A condenser was built in 1895 to produce drinking water for the towns population.

John Forrest Sir John Forrest (22 August 1847 – 2 SeptemberSome sources give the date as 3 September 1918 1918) was an Australian explorer and politician. He was the first premier of Western Australia (1890–1901) and a long-serving cabinet minister in ...

visited the town in the same year during his tour through the goldfields. A

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

and a

racecourse A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

had been established in the town in 1896 and at the town's peak over eight hotels, a bakery, a bank and numerous other businesses were operating. The population of the town was 313 (260 males and 53 females) in 1898. The two biggest mines in town, Black Flag and Ladee Bountiful, closed down between 1906 and 1907 and the town was abandoned shortly afterwards. The name of the town is thought to originate from a

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

that had been hung up to indicate that a store was open for business. However, Norman Sligo, in his book ''Mates and Gold'', suggests that the name was because of the "hills and flats being coated with black ironstone wash". The remains of the townsite are within the Credo Station leasehold.

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Western Australia Goldfields–Esperance