Kanowna is a

ghost 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 the

Goldfields Goldfield or Goldfields may refer to: Places * Goldfield, Arizona, the former name of Youngberg, Arizona, a populated place in the United States * Goldfield, Colorado, a community in the United States * Goldfield, Iowa, a city in the United State ...

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 ...

, about east of

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 ...

. It is sited on Maduwongga tribal lands. At the 2016 census, Kanowna had a population of 10 people.ABS
/ref> After the discovery of

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 ...

in the area in 1893, the townsite was gazetted in 1894. and the population grew from 2,500 in 1897 to over 12,500 by 1899. However, the

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

gold supply was rapidly exhausted and underground mines following the outcropping vein produced decreasing amounts of gold, resulting in a slow but steady decrease in the population. The railway station was closed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, and by 1953 the town had been abandoned. The railway station platform, two cemeteries and mine workings are all that is left of the original town of Kanowna. Signs erected by the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society mark the sites of significant buildings. Increasing gold prices in the late 1970s sparked renewed interest in exploring the geology of the area for new sources of gold. The discovery of a large amount of gold, previously undiscovered because the vein did not reach the surface, made gold mining in the region economically viable again. Mining recommenced in 1986, initially as

open-cut mining Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

, before moving to underground mines. As of 2002, the

Kanowna Belle The Kanowna Belle Gold Mine is a gold mine north-east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, near the ghost town of Kanowna. It is operated by Northern Star Resources.

mine employed more than 300 people. It formerly had its own local government: the

Municipality of Kanowna A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

(1896-1917) represented the township proper and the North East Coolgardie Road District (1896-1922) represented the surrounding area. The municipality merged into the road district in 1917, at which time the road district was renamed Kanowna.

See also

References

Further reading