Kambalda
Shire of Coolgardie
60km S of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
In late 1896 Percy Larkin – who was also one of the original discoverers of gold at Kanowna – found gold near Red Hill on the banks of Lake Lefroy. The hill and the vast salt lake had been named in 1864 by explorer Charles Cooke Hunt.
The small settlement that grew at the base of the hill was gazetted in 1897 and renamed Kambalda by Government surveyor, W. Rowley. By 1907 the Red Hill Gold Mine had closed and the town was mostly abandoned.
Decades later, in 1939, prospector George Cowcill found green-stained gossan – oxidised or decomposed ore – from a gold prospect about 900m NNW of the abandoned Red Hill gold mine. It wasn’t until 1954 that the ore samples, then thought to be uranium, were submitted for analysis to the Kalgoorlie School of Mines (now the Western Australian School of Mines) by Cowcill.
The ore samples did not contain uranium but analysis by Bill Cleverly found them to be nickel-bearing. Ten years later, Cowcill and his long-time associate and prospector friend John Morgan collected additional gossan samples and submitted them to Roy Woodall, a geologist with Western Mining Corporation.
WMC drilled underneath the gossans, discovering on 28 January 1966 the first of many large deposits of nickel in the Kambalda region. In the same year the company established Australia's first nickel mine.
Modern Kambalda was built by WMC as a company town on two town sites 4km apart – the older residential-industrial Kambalda East and the commercial and residential hub, Kambalda West. Gold is also mined near Kambalda, which today has a population of about 3,500.
Near Kambalda:
St Ives
Gold was found in the St Ives area, about 20km SE of Kambalda on the western side of Lake Lefroy, in 1987. Prospector Pat Ives pegged the Ives Reward lease in 1919. The St Ives gold mine is today one of Western Australia’s leading gold producers.
Red Hill Pioneer Cemetery 1897 - 1905
A small cemetery located on the corner of Beresford Road and Tip Road in between Kambalda and Kambalda West, Western Australia.
Although there are only five graves here there are two headstones bearing different surnames but the same date of death. One grave states Edward CLAYTON and the other Edward HASSELL which appear to be one person by the name of Edward Clayton HASSELL. Also known as Ned, HASSELL succumbed to a deranged mind driven by the need and unsuccessful effort to strike gold at Red Hill on 12th May 1905 by taking his own life.
04 Jun 1905 - Red Hill. - Trove (nla.gov.au)
16 May 1905 - Sensational Suicide at Red Hill. - Trove (nla.gov.au)
Elizabeth GAUNT suffered burns when her kerosene lamp overturned and her camp caught ablaze. She was taken to the Commercial Hotel commonly referred to as Wadeson’s after the publican at the time, Dan WADESON. Elizabeth tragically died the following day on 23rd December 1899.
26 Dec 1899 - Items of News. - Trove (nla.gov.au)
George EUPELI/EUPITI suffered a heart attack at the Butterfly Mine 13th June 1904.
11 Nov 1904 - Advertising - Trove (nla.gov.au)
William WENZELL (German Bill) the first person to be buried at Red Hill Cemetery, was suffering from inflammation of the lungs for several weeks prior to his death on 2nd June 1897.
12 Jun 1897 - Death at Red Hill. - Trove (nla.gov.au)
Records for this cemetery have unfortunately been difficult to source but there is reason to believe that John HYLAND (also known as Jack) of Block 48, Hampton Plains may also be buried here.
HYLAND was killed by a fall of earth at Block 48 on 21st December 1899 and although there are no records to confirm the whereabouts of his burial, work mates had written a letter to his sister to relay the terrible news and obtain information for a headstone. For reasons unknown the headstone was never placed at his grave as there seems to be no evidence of it ever being there.
A copy of the abovementioned letter that has been donated by well-known Kambalda local - Mrs Billie INGHAM to The Kambalda Cultural & Arts Group Home | Kambalda Arts (kcaag.com.au) then kindly shared with The Eastern Goldfields Historical Society and makes mention of HYLAND being buried at Red Hill Cemetery eight miles from the accident site by his work mates. (See letter further below)
23 Dec 1899 - Items of News. - Trove (nla.gov.au)