Tag: Eulaminna

Symonds or Simounds?

A group of people posing for a photo Description automatically generated

This is a delightful wedding group, with the bride, Miss Maggie Symonds, wearing “…a pretty dress of white silk with point lace, a tulle veil, and a coronet of orange blossoms…the presents were both numerous and costly”. Some 80 guests partook of breakfast, then attended a ball in the evening at the Anaconda Hotel1, 2,3.

Less than a year before, Alfred Frederick Thompson, her new husband, the landlord at the Anaconda Hotel, was in custody, charged with unlawfully shooting and wounding John Clinton. He was acquitted – it was decided that he needed to protect himself with a revolver against some of his customers who were “attempting to take possession of the hotel”. This was definitely the Wild West, and one wonders if his bride was prepared for this behaviour, not uncommon, and including “outrages with dynamite” on the billiard hall and also the hotel4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Over time, Anaconda has been known by various names, including Eulaminna, Murrin and Murrin Murrin. Lots were originally surveyed in 1900 to serve the nearby Murrin Murrin Copper Mine that was known as the Anaconda Copper Mine at the time. By 1903 there were 64 residential lots and a population of about 350. A Police Station was also established in 1903 and the town boasted two hotels, two stores a chemist and a newsagent. A mail receiver was in place but no telegraph station.

Researchers – if this is your family, the bride’s name is misspelled – she is really Margaret Robina (or Rosina) Simounds. If you know more about this family, please let us know at ghostswa@fhwa.org.au.

Sources

  1. Kalgoorlie Western Argus, 1903. District News. Published 29 Sep 1903, p.12. Retrieved 23 Oct 2024 from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/32734679?searchTerm=Maggie%20Symonds ↩︎
  2. Kalgoorlie Miner, 1903. Wedding at Anaconda. Published 26 Sep 1903, p.4. Retrieved 23 Oct 2024 from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/88873557?searchTerm=Maggie%20Symonds ↩︎
  3.  Kalgoorlie Western Argus (WA : 1896 – 1916),(1903, October 20) Wedding Group, Anaconda, Murrin Murrin. Thompson-Symnonds. p. 23. Retrieved October 25, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4123379 ↩︎
  4. SHOOTING AFFRAY AT ANACONDA (1902, March 7). The Malcolm Chronicle and Leonora Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1905), p. 3. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228044349 ↩︎
  5. Shooting Affray. (1902, March 13). The Evening Star (Boulder, WA : 1898 – 1921), p. 3. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203481548 ↩︎
  6. News of the Week. (1902, March 14). The Malcolm Chronicle and Leonora Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1905), p. 2. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228044368 ↩︎
  7. MALCOLM POLICE COURT. (1902, March 21). The Malcolm Chronicle and Leonora Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1905), p. 3. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228044382 ↩︎
  8. THE ANACONDA FRACAS. (1902, March 28). The Malcolm Chronicle and Leonora Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1905), p. 2. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228044400 ↩︎
  9. THE ANACONDA FRACAS. (1902, June 27). The Malcolm Chronicle and Leonora Advertiser (WA : 1897 – 1905), p. 3. Retrieved October 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228044723 ↩︎