Charters Towers, Queensland

Tomorrow we leave Charters Towers after two nights here. Even though it is a big country town with a population of around 9000 and built on Gold and Cattle it has started giving me a bit of a tropical feel as it is only 90 minutes from the east coast of Australia. Back in 1871 from a chance discovery of gold by a young Aboriginal horse boy Jupiter Mosman and the proclamation of a goldfield in 1872 Charters Towers was born. Back in the bustling golden days this town was the second largest in Queensland, consisting of 11 crushing mills, 65 hotels and one of the first regional towns to have the Stock Exchange in Australia.

There are some stunning Queenslanders in town. 

Dotted around the towers Hill lookout are lots of air raid shelters

As in the other mining towns we have visited such as Kalgoorlie/Boulder, it is evident of the past wealth in the town by the stunning buildings.

Coolgardie - Mother of the Goldfields

On September 17, 1892 Arthur Bayley rode into Southern Cross and deposited with the Mining Warden 554 ounces of gold that he and his partner William Ford, had found at an area called Fly Flat (part of what was to become Coolgardie). Within hours the frenzied rush to Coolgardie began and with it the greatest movement of people in Australia's history. While the lucky found gold and fortune, many more only found hardship, sickness and death. Despite this, within a decade Coolgardie became the third largest town in Western Australia, with a population of over 16,000 and many more people settling in the surrounding areas. While the surface gold ran out and the original mine, Bayley's Reward, closed in 1963. Coolgardie now with a population of around 800 people and viewed by many as a ghost town has retained many of it's magnificent buildings associated with it's rich and colourful past. So Coolgardie was my destination today, to have a look around and get some photos of the towns magnificent historic buildings.

Wardens Court Building

This was a very imposing building on the main street

One of the two remaining old pubs

Denver City Hotel

Coolgardie RSL - This was my favourite

Main Street of Coolgardie