Available for FREE download, for just a few days is the e-book Deserts of Gold
A story of modern day adventure into the frontier Goldfields of Australia
Read about the history, the discovery and experience the adventure of one of the biggest goldfields in the world.
Come and journey with me in this tale from the ‘Around the Campfire’ series of stories in travelling around Australia, by traveller Jan Hawkins
Kalgoorlie, or Kal’ to the locals has to be the most RV friendly place we have found. We are currently reacquainting ourselves with the frontier town and thoroughly enjoying the experience. There is simply no place like Kalgoorlie on the entire continent. Not only is it the biggest gold mine in the world but it is a glorious frontier town out in the desert and a gem in its own right. The colonial architecture of the town is a delight and it breathes of the once glorious world of bullocky drawn carts, polished wood and deep verandah’s which shelter you from the fierce desert sun.
One of the greatest pleasures I find in writing is research. I write on Aboriginal Lore, a passion I have had for many years and one, which has been an integral part of my life. I also write informal travelogues, which are opinion and experience rather than travel advice and recommendations. Research has been part of my life from the very early days when I would listen to stories told and read what little there was back then of Australian tales. This has been an interest of mine since childhood. It once entailed spending long wonderful hours amongst old photo’s, writings and microfiche and I still enjoy getting back to the basics in a dusty room, unearthing precious resources.
Now-a-days a great deal of research is done on the internet and within valuable databases such as the Gutenberg Collection. This collection allows you on-line access to many journals, those of our Explorers and many other writings which are made freely available. However there is no going past many of my other research resources, valued books that I have collected over the years, which simply are no longer available and other resources and papers that make up part of my collection.
Using the gold detector
The lure of gold has driven men (and women) to many depths and lengths over the centuries of history and I do admit to a woeful lack of knowledge when it comes to the gold history of anywhere else but Aus. A smattering of history from the gold fields of America is as good as it gets, along with the background knowledge that a lot of gold came from the Inca’s or South America’s. A lot of it plundered with the arrival of the Spanish and English seamen centuries ago and I would love to hear of some current living history from anyone out there.
However it is a personal thing to me when related to Australia. I once loved to pull out our little vial of gold-flakes and itty-nuggets and tell of the days when we panned from the creeks of the hinterlands of the Great Dividing Range with our four kids when they were young. That little vial is now gone, replaced by others with different stories born of our experiences. These all represent great times though, those times spent camping in the hinterland mountains with the wild dingo’s calling to the rising moon as they gathered their hunting pack and were heard later snooping around the tents at night looking for scraps and stray kids… yes I am serious. Days when we enjoyed showing our growing brood of little bruisers that there was more to life than ice-cream’s on a boardwalk by the ocean, or bums on seats at adventure parks. Life is rich with experiences and rewards if you cared to really look about you.
Now a-days hubby breaks out the gold detector when we are bush and waffles around having fun, digging up old bullet cases, scraps of metal and the odd gold piece, be it small change or nuggets, sometimes even jewellery. It is something we take for granted in Australia, this freedom to reap of the earths wealth be it gold or gems, it is a great way to spend a couple of weeks.
Jan Hawkins Author 