Tag: Cyril Jackson

Three Decades

In May 2011, The Weekend West‘s Rod Moran published an article under the banner “The Way We Were”.1 The short article reads:

August 4, 1898

In three decades Goongarrie grew from a camp to a thriving town and finally a ghost town.

This lighthearted snap shows a picnic gathering at Goongarrie, a flourishing gold-mining site in the back-blocks between Menzies and Kalgoorlie. The first gold discoveries in the area were mde in 1893. The hamlet was also called the Roaring Gimlet, due to the thundering noise of icy desert winds through the gimlet trees. More prosaically, early on it was simply called the 90 Mile camp, its approximate distance from Coolgardie.

Despite its isolation, Goongarrie developed into a thriving little town. By the 1890s it boasted two pubs, as well a other essential services such as a post and telegraph office. In 1898 the Cobb and Co coach from Coolgardie was boosted from a bi-weekly to a daily run. The government rail line opened in the same year. The town also boasted a blacksmith, a carpenter, two butchers, a baker two restaurants and a cool drink manufacturer. But the citizens depicted here at play also had some weighty concerns on their minds in its August 4, 1889 [sic] edition The West Australian reported “Considerable dissatisfaction is expressed in this district at the failure of the Education Department to establish a school at Goongarrie. From 15 to 30 children are now resident here, and…not having any educational facilities whatever, are to a great extent running wild about the country…growing up in almost total ignorance.”

In 1904 the district’s electoral roll listed 109 names. But by 1921 the postal directory had only 21 people on it. even if a school had been built, Goongarrie’s fortunes would have waned as alluvial gold petered out.

The information and accompanying image were said to be taken from the archives of The West Australian. However, a search of Trove for the period in question has not located the original photo. The quoted comment about the lack of a school in Goongarrie can be found in the Kalgoorlie Western Argus 2 along with further details on the issue.

In September 1898, Cyril Jackson, the Inspector General of Schools, responded to a letter from the local Board of Health in which an offer of a suitable building (the Miners’ Institute) was made to house a school free of charge. He said “…the Minister is very anxious indeed to extend education to as many children as possible. It seems impossible, however, in the present state of the funds to establish a school at Goongarrie.”3

Some things, it seems, never change.

Source

  1. Rod Moran, 2011. The Weekend West : The Way We Were. Published 28-29 May, 2011 by The West Australian Newspapers. ↩︎
  2. GOONGARRIE. (1898, August 4). Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 – 1916), p. 9. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32194286 ↩︎
  3. Public School at Goongarrie. (1898, October 1). The Menzies Miner (WA : 1896 – 1901), p. 5. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233058760 ↩︎