Bonnie Vale is an abandoned
goldfields townsite north of
Coolgardie in the
Shire of Coolgardie in
Western Australia.
History
The town was
gazetted in 1897. It was apparently named after Bonnie, a
prospector who picked up a
nugget here in May/June 1894.
It is famous as the site of the
Varischetti mine rescue
Modesto Varischetti (24 October 1874 – 3 September 1920) was an Italian miner who was trapped in a gold mine for nine days after a thunderstorm flooded it in March 1907. The 12-level mine was located at Bonnie Vale, Western Australia, Bonnieva ...
of 1907, when
Italian gold miner
A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...
Modesto Varischetti was trapped for nine days in a mine when it was flooded after a thunderstorm. Varischetti survived in an air pocket until rescued. A diver using deep-sea diving equipment located Varischetti five days after the mine was flooded, and provided him with food, candles and letters of encouragement.
Rail services
The
''Prospector'' service, which runs each way between
East Perth and
Kalgoorlie
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 sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
once or twice each day, stops at Bonnie Vale.
References
Goldfields-Esperance
Ghost towns in Western Australia
Shire of Coolgardie
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