Field’s Find

Grave marker in the Field’s Find Cemetery1

Region: Mid West
LGA: Shire of Yalgoo
AKA: Fields Find
Industry: Gold Mining
Coordinates: 29°02’20.0″S 117°14’30.0″E
What3Words: ///alternate.combines.withering
Population: 0
Started: 1895
Gazetted: N/A
Closed:1930s

Gold was discoverd by 3 prospectors – Tongue, Varley and Meyer in mid 1894. But they didn’t peg it and left, when they returned they were disappointed to find James J Field and his partner George Woodley had pegged it.

The field was active from the late 1890’s to the 1930’s, and was largely the preserve of individual or pairs of miners with small operations. Since that time intermittent specimen mining for slabbed jasper takes place, and it has been explored for iron ore.

Location 51kms NW of Paynes Find & 98kms SE south-east of Yalgoo, along the Paynes Find-Yalgoo Road, just west of its intersection with the Warriedar Road, the area is better known as a small historic goldfield in low hills along the road between Paynes Find and Yalgoo. All that remains is the cemetery and diggings2.

The small cemetery contains eleven souls. Four- William Payne (aged 36), Edward (Ned) King (26), Daniel Hogan (22) and Frederick Smith (27)- were killed in a mine explosion at the Fields Find Mine on the 31 August 1899. They were sinking a shaft and had laid dynamite which was lit with a fuse. While the circumstances are unclear, it is believed they sat near unpacked dynamite nearby to await the outcome of the explosion. The concussion from it set off the large amount of stacked dynamite next to them killing everyone instantly, and causing a cave in. Rescuers described seeing unrecognisable scraps of bodies left3.

Sources

  1. Shire of Yalgoo, n.d. Fields Find Cemetery. Retrieved from https://www.yalgoo.wa.gov.au/tourism/attractions/fields-find-cemetery.aspx on 15 Oct 2024 ↩︎
  2. Moya Sharp, n.d. Outback Family History : Field’s Find, Western Australia. Retrieved from https://www.outbackfamilyhistory.com.au/records/record.php?record_id=161 on 16 Oct 2024. ↩︎
  3. Mindat, n.d. Fields Find Goldfield, Warriedar Station, Yalgoo Shire, Western Australia, Australia. Retrieved from https://www.mindat.org/loc-122474.html on 16 Oct 2024. ↩︎