Editor’s Note: The source of the following article is an article in the North-Eastern Courier in 1938.¹

For the residents of the Murchison and the North-Eastern wheatbelt in the 1930s, “distance” was more than just a measurement; it was a constant, looming threat. To be a prospector at the Payne’s Find goldfields or a pastoralist on a remote station meant living days away from medical help. However, on a Saturday afternoon in late July 1938, that gap was narrowed significantly with the official opening of the radio telephone service between Dalwallinu Hospital and Payne’s Find.

The event was treated with the gravity such a technological milestone deserved. The Minister for Health, Mr A. H. Panton, travelled from Perth to perform the opening honours. Accompanying him was a party of dignitaries, including Mr P. D. Ferguson, M.L.A., and officials from the Medical and Health Departments. The afternoon began with a sense of local hospitality, as the Chairman of the Dalwallinu Hospital Board, Mr W. H. Flynn, entertained the Ministerial party at lunch at the Dalwallinu Hotel before the proceedings moved to the hospital.

What makes this piece of local history so compelling is the evidence of grassroots determination. The service was not merely handed down by the government; it was a hard-won victory for the locals. The total cost of the sets exceeded £200, a significant sum during the tail end of the Depression, with £75 of that raised specifically at the Payne’s Find end.

Special credit was given to Mr A. F. Pipe, who spent a “vast amount of time” securing financial aid, and Dr C. W. Anderson, who had spent two years advocating for the wireless link. Minister Panton noted that the hospital tax money was being put to “good and legitimate use” to benefit such country areas, but it was clear that the heavy lifting had been done by the people themselves.

Before this link, a medical emergency at Payne’s Find required a physical messenger to travel long distances just to reach a telephone. Dr Anderson highlighted that the new service would be a “vast benefit” to those “outback who lack hospital and medical facilities”. Over the airwaves, the Minister explained that the radio would allow for immediate first-aid advice to be given by the doctor while a patient was being prepared for the arduous journey to Dalwallinu.

The day also saw the formal handing over of a new operating table to the hospital by the Wubin and Districts sub-branch of the R.S.L. Mr Jas. Day, representing the sub-branch, appealed to citizens to support Dr Anderson, whom he described as “second to none” in his care for the “sick and afflicted”.

The most poignant moment of the day occurred when the link was tested. Mr W. J. Green, the long-standing postmaster and pioneer of Payne’s Find, replied to the Minister “over the air” from the mining centre. Green, who had been instrumental in the project, spoke with pride about the district’s twenty-seven-year history, noting that it had produced thousands of pounds worth of gold and a “huge quantity of the highest quality wool”.

He also shared a rare moment of environmental optimism, reporting that beneficial rains had recently fallen, brightening the prospects for local pastoralists. The ceremony concluded on a personal note, with Mr J. C. Clark sending a “cheerio” over the air to Mr Eric Bouquet, the operator of the set at Payne’s Find.

1. Radio Telephone (1938, August 5). North-Eastern Courier (Perth, WA : 1923 – 1955), p. 5. Retrieved April 3, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article257371150 ↩︎
2. State Library of Western Australia (n.d.) Colin Warden Anderson collection of photographs; BA2076/46. Retrieved 3 Apr 2026 from https://encore.slwa.wa.gov.au/iii/encore/record/C__Rb4615670
   Notes:
   1. Wireless transmitter in ante room of Labour Ward, Dalwallinu Hospital. Built by W.E. Coxon. Call HUG reputed 50 watts output. Two receivers on R. Lower is 5 valve AWA receiver donated by Mr Green, Paynes Find.
   2. Original image damaged and unclear has been restored by Nano Banana 2 AI. ↩︎

Phase 7 of our project starts tomorrow with the release of twenty-one new communities, bringing the total of communities being actively indexed to 109.

• Mundaring Weir
• Ninghan
• Yerilla
• Kunanalling
• Golden Valley
• Payne’s Find
• Myalup Sustenance Worker’s Camp
• Kurrajong
• Wyening
• Kudardup
• Warriedar
• Zanthus
• Mangowine
• Mulga Queen
• Burnakura
• Gum Creek
• Mason & Bird Timbers Mills
• Yetna
• Jonesville
• Nairibin
• PWD Timber Mill

The profile pages for these communities will be released progressively across the next six to eight weeks, starting tomorrow. So make sure you are subscribed to our website to be notified when this happens.

In the mid-19th century, the region we now know as Mundaring was a rugged expanse of “mundak,” or wild country, dominated by towering jarrah and wandoo forests,. It was a landscape defined by the rhythmic thud of sleeper cutters’ axes and the isolated camps of convict road parties who laboured to maintain the vital thoroughfares of the colony,. For the early settlers, these hills were a formidable barrier between the burgeoning capital of Perth and the agricultural promise of the Avon Valley. Along the main artery of travel, the York Road, law and order often felt as thin as the coastal mist, creating a perfect environment for those living outside the law.¹

The focal point of this narrative is a small stone structure situated near Manaring Lake at the junction of the Great Eastern and Great Southern Highways. Originally known as the Travellers Rest Inn, it was built around 1855 by Robert Doncon on “King Dick’s Road”, a route specifically financed by York settlers to bypass a more difficult government-surveyed track. By 1858, the inn had been purchased by Henry Horton and renamed Horton’s Half-Way House. Described by visitors as a “primitive sort of house,” its sitting room was famously furnished with great sofas that frequently served as makeshift beds for weary travellers.²

In November 1860, this humble outpost became the stage for a dramatic moment in Western Australian colonial history. James Lilly, an escaped bushranger, was at large in the district. In a time when the bush offered near-limitless sanctuary to fugitives, Lilly was a significant concern for the small, scattered populations of sawyers and pioneers. Bushrangers like Lilly represented a direct challenge to the safety of the mail routes and the security of isolated homesteads in the “high places” of the range.³

The capture of Lilly at Horton’s inn was a rare and decisive victory for colonial authorities. Drawn by the necessity of the crossroads or perhaps the rare prospect of shelter, the fugitive’s run ended at this remote stop. While the specific tactical details of the struggle are not extensively detailed in the historical record, it is confirmed that it was here that Lilly’s flight from justice was finally halted.⁴

Today, little remains of the site where this frontier drama unfolded. The advent of the Eastern Railway in 1884 bypassed the old York Road inns, stripping them of their economic purpose and social importance. Partially destroyed by bushfires in the 1920s and 1930s, the inn fell into a dilapidated state. What once stood as a vital haven for travellers and a site of high-stakes capture is now a collection of low stone walls, slowly deteriorating among the trees at the locality known as The Lakes. These ruins serve as a silent reminder of the days when James Lilly haunted the wild country of the Mundaring hills.⁵

Sources

1. National Trust of Western Australia (n.d.) The Golden Pipeline: Mundaring. Retrieved 19 Mar 2026 from https://www.goldenpipeline.com.au/place/mundaring/ ↩︎
2. Heritage Council of WA (2017). Travellers’ Inn Ruins. Retrieved 19 Mar 2026 from https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/details/02f2be09-9790-45ec-99a6-2780f0b9e570 ↩︎
3. ibid ↩︎
4. ibid ↩︎
5. ibid ↩︎

Further Reading

• FamilyHistoryWA (2025). James Farrell 2091. Retrieved 30 May 2026 from https://waconvicts.fhwa.org.au/g0/p84.htm#i2091

Here on our website we have a great resource called WA’s Ghost Towns by Location. This document lists all communities included in our project (to date) by Administrative Region and Local Government Authority. At the bottom of the list, you can find a list of communities that are still being researched.

If you are planning a road trip and want to visit some Ghost Towns on the way, you can search by region or by shire name and find what is around you.

If you want a view of how things looked a century ago, here’s a map of Western Australia by Locality produced in 1934.

1 March 2026 is the launch of Phase 6 of the project and 20 new ghost communities have been added to the list of towns that are being actively researched.

• 71 Mile Well
• Baandee
• Burbidge
• Candlelight
• Corunna Downs
• Culham
• De Grey
• Dudawa
• Garden Gully
• Garden Well
• Kathleen
• Kintore
• Kurnalpi
• Mount Jackson
• Mount Kokeby
• Niagara
• Old Onslow
• Red Lake
• Shannon
• Wagerup

If you know anything more about any of these places, or any others on our please, please contact us via our contact page. And if you find anything that you think is incorrect on any of our pages, we need to know!!

And don’t forget to subscribe to this page to receive updates on the project.