Waverley, or Siberia, 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'' ...

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 Leonora. It is on the Davyhurst to

Ora Banda Ora Banda is a townsite and locality in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia located north-west of Kalgoorlie. The town name is Spanish meaning "band of gold". It includes several operational mines and at the 2016 Australian census ...

Road in the Goldfields-Esperance 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 ...

and has formed part of

Maduwongga The Maduwongga (Martu Wangka) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. Language The language spoken by the Maduwongga was called Kabal. Country In Norman Tindale's estimation, the Maduwongga t ...

territory. Two

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 ...

s Billy Frost and Bob Bonner discovered

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 the late 1893, resulting in a gold rush to the area. The increasing population indicated a need for a townsite to be planned and lots were surveyed in 1898, which was initially to be named Siberia. The local progress association decided that the town should be named Waverley after a nearby mine. The townsite was gazetted as Waverley in 1898. Some of the mines close to town include ''Siberia'', ''Waverley'', ''Mexico'' and the ''Pole'' leases. In 1911 the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official respons ...

raised concern about the duplication of town names in Australia, including Waverley. Alternative names such as Wongi (the name of a nearby

soak Soak may refer to: * Steeping * Bathing * Soakage (source of water), a source of water in Australian deserts * Soak dike, ditch or drain * Soak testing, a method of system testing in computing and electronics * Soak (singer), Irish singer-songwrit ...

) and Siberia. The locals preferred Siberia and the name was officially gazetted in 1914. The name comes from Siberia Tank, a water supply that is close to the town. In 1924, two

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, ...

s, Emery and MacLachlan, picked up on the continuation of a deep

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 ...

lead and obtained satisfactory results. The last resident left town in 1954.

References

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