Widgiemooltha is an abandoned town in

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 ...

east of

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia between Kambalda and

Norseman The Norsemen (or Northmen) were a cultural group in the Early Middle Ages, originating among speakers of Old Norse in Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions, giving ris ...

in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It is found on the southern shoreline of

Lake Lefroy Lake Lefroy is a large ephemeral salt lake in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. It is north of Lake Cowan and approximately south of Boulder. The town of Kambalda is on the northern shore and the hamlet of Widgiemooltha ...

. The location of the original townsite is on Kingswood Street, which runs at the rear of the Widgiemooltha Roadhouse. The Coolgardie-Esperance Hwy now bypasses the original townsite. In August 2015, the only evidence of the original township was the remains of the hotel. In the 1890s

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

was discovered in the area and the townsite was gazetted in 1897 as Widgemooltha, the spelling being amended to the current form in 1944. It had also been referred to as Widgiemoultha. In 1898 the town had a population of 112 (100 males and 12 females). The name of the town is Aboriginal in origin and is thought to be the name of a nearby hill and rock-hole. It is thought to be related to the

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...

of an

emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

. The goldfields around the area were home to the Golden Eagle nugget, which was found in 1931 by Jim Larcombe. It weighed , the biggest nugget found in the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

of Western Australian goldfields. The find sparked a

gold fever A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Gr ...

and shortly afterward 1,000 men were working the field unearthing other

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s and nuggets. In 1956, Widgiemooltha had a small population. These included railway fettlers and their families (there were 4 fettler families, complete with children), Listers' Salt Works (now WA Salt Supply) employees, a schoolteacher, a shopkeeper and a few hotel staff. Gold and

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

continue to be mined in the area.

References

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

See also

References