Comet Vale is an

abandoned town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

in Western Australia located in the Goldfield region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

located between

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 ...

and Laverton on the

Goldfields Highway Goldfields Highway is a generally northwest–southeast highway in central Western Australia which links the Great Northern Highway at Meekatharra with Coolgardie-Esperance Highway south of Kalgoorlie. The highway is approximately in length, ...

. It is within the

Shire of Menzies The Shire of Menzies is a local government area in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia located to the north of Kalgoorlie. It covers an area of , and its seat of government is the town of Menzies. History The Shire of Menzie ...

. The town site was named after a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

that could be seen at about the time

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

was discovered in the area. By 1895 the town had a population of approximately 500, and by 1897 the townspeople were demanding a post-office. The postmaster general instructed postmasters at

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

and Googarrie prepare daily mail bags for Comet Vale which were then distributed at one of the stores in town. The ''Comet Vale Hotel'' was established some time prior to 1898. The town was gazetted in 1916. A prospector, Dan Baker is credited with the initial gold discovery. Two mines were in production in 1900 named ''Lady Margaret'' and ''Long tunnel''. The ''Gladsome'' mine was operating before 1905, and the Moss brothers built a 10-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 ...

and ''Coonega'' at Comet Vale. More mines opened later including ''Sand Queen'' and ''Happy Jack'' both of which continued to operate after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. A police station had been established in the town and was destroyed in 1916. A coach service used to service the town coming from Goongarrie and continuing to the Ularring district. In 1921 fresh water was found in old shafts not far from town to replace water requirements that had been sent by rail from Kalgoorlie.

References

{{authority control Ghost towns in Western Australia Shire of Menzies