A VISIT TO COOLGARDIE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 52, 26 April 1895, Page 23

A VISIT TO COOLGARDIE.

(Australasian Catholic Record.) Starting from the railwayatation, Perth, a five hoars' trip by train takes one to the pretty and prosperous township of Northam. If there be any harry to reach the now famous goldfislds, a night train runs on to the end of the line. Only by night do the passenger trains run from Northam to Southern Cross, the present terminus of the Eaetern Railway and the tot spot where *ny comfort in travelling is attainable. To recoup itself for the enormous outlay spent on the goldfieldi and the comparatively slight intome derived from them, the Government exacts a double tariff for everything carried over this portion of the line. But not always does the double fare ensure a desirable place The carriages are packed. Crowds arc pressing forward in the urgent race and fight for gold. Bare indeed are the occasions when space and qaiet are afforded to stretch one's limbs and snatch a nap, as wear away the ten long hours of night which the iron horse needs to clear this 170 miles of country. Arriving in the early hours of morning at Southern Cross the traveller is soon made aware that he is nearing the fields. Not far from here is beard for the first time the ceaseless thud of the " stampers," crushing to finest paste the gold bearing quart*. Dust and bustle pervade the town. Between six and seven hundred horse teams and scores of camels here await thsir '• loading " for Coolgardie. Kvery article of food, clothing, and shelter that some 20.000 men requiie at the centre must be bauled across the 120 miles of desert plaioa beyond Southern Cross. An army is in front and the " Croso," as it is called shortly, is the base of operations. There is nothing admirabla about Southern Cross but its activity. Its

founder gave it a heavenly name and called its streets after the names of the brightest stars in the firmament ; withal, it is a dismal and unwholesome plaoe for human beings to live in. Lake " Polaiis " is near by, but its waters are nowhere to be seen. Yon may dig to reach them and when brought to the surface they are found to be eight times salter than the ocean. Yet, with the exception of showers, all too rare, there is no other water supply. The briny fluid is boiled and the rising steam conducted through long metal tnbes. It cools and condenses in the passage ; but — beware the tiny trickle of fresh water issuing at the further end of the apparatus. Not even this fire-tried liquid may be constantly relied on with safety. Deadly germs of typhoid fill the air and they are whisked about in the whirlwinds or dust storms that are of everyday occurrence in tht town. 41 Cobb'a " coaches run every day between the Oro*a and Coolgardie ; 120 miles of arid scrub and sand plains separate the two places. By the immense traffic the road is cut up in a way that, to be realised, must be experienced. Whoever makes the journey once is not likely to forget it for the rest of life, Driving all the way through newly ploughed fields would be an easy way of locomotion in comparison. The dust from first to la.t is snffocating and the bumps of the jolting carriage verge on the fatal. The good priest of Northam was lately jerked off the box seat of this coach and fell within a \Um inches of where the lumbering vehicle would have passed over his body. There are two days' endurance of the trying ordeal, broken by a night's stop at Boorabbin— the half-way halting place. There are separate beds bat not separate bedrooms for all who come. The only partitions between the sleeping places are frames covered with thin coarse canvas. Consequently, private conversation is not possible ; whatever is said by anyone is heard all over the boose. I •• turned in " at Boorabbin, but I did not sleep. In the course of the all-round chat that succeedei the putting out of lights it was discovered that one of the party bound for Coolgardie was fresh out from Boglaod and bad a morbid dread of Australian makes. Bach of the recumbent diggers contributed his share to the fun of terrorising the " new chum " with some most atrocious snake

story. This was more than the affrighted stranger could bear. He got up, dressed, and commenced to search about. Unwittingly he put a stop to all the sport when he produced from bis portmanteau a loaded revolver with which to face the dreaded reptile— things became serious for the jesters when there was danger of a stray shot in the dark. The joke had been kept up for hours but little time remained before the early start for the latter half of the journey. Another day of jolting and of binding dust succeeds. The experiences of yesterday are repea'ed. Again, every few hundred yards teams are met with toilsomely plodding their way in clouds of dust through the heavy saod or finely pulverised soil. Now and then the decaying carcass of a dead beast taints the air. Some poor horse, camel, or bullock has fallen in the track— has been draged jast clear of the rotdway, and in malodorous fashion bears witoess to the killing strain of the ever onward tug. Towards evening the hardships of the road are nearly done with. In sight of the town the driver with cheery though discordant blare ot trumpet, gives notice of another load of newcomers. Bre nightfall the coach draws up in Bay ley street. Coolgardie. In three years, time Coolgardie has sprung up into a brisk and and important township, A remote, waterless, and desolate spot in the lonely bosb has changed into one of the busiest haunts of men. Something like 2000 inhabitants have settled down in the place, and their numbers are rapidly increasing. An unbroken line of shops stretches along each side of the two-chain-wide main street. As may sasily be imagined they are not indeed shops of very imposing appearance. With the exception of a few brick buildings, they are all mere booths, made up of wood or galvanised iron and canvas. A large trade, however, is being briskly carried on. Six bankß are in full swing of operations— the great financial names over their doors are not much in keeping with the meagre show of the dingy premises, Lawyers and doctors — of whom there is an ample supply— are content with the humblest shanties : are not their fees heavy and their business flourishing f The churches are well represented ; the Anglicans, the Wesleyan s, and the Salvation Army people have each their place of worship. On rising ground, a little way from the

principal thoroughfare, a neat little Catholic obapel is situated. Iti locality is easy to find, for it is next door to the iron-oovered ■true* tare whioh calls itse'f the " Theatre Boyal," and proclaims the title on itg galvanised roof in letters big enough to be read a mile off. The Post Office— overwhelmed with work— is bnilt of brick, and the Government hospital consis's of a group of tents, capable altogether of roughly sheltering 60 sick men ; no women are admitted. Tents and canvas-covered hots are scattered over the open spaces in and around the town. The priest in charge of the town and district works as hard as any digger. He is young and active, and has plenty to do. Fortunately his flock are for the most part good and practical Catholics, The population of the Yilgarn Goldfialds, all told, has been recently estimated to number about 20,000, and of these nearly one-half are Catholics. The romantic incidents which so often mark the goldminer's career, and the ever-present chance and hope of achieving sudden fortune, have a special attraction f*r the adventarons Celtic temperament. It thus happens that a large proportion of the men on the fields are Irishmen and Catholics -and they are good samples of their class. On Sundays the little ebapel is crowded. On Christmas Day over fifty stalwart gold-miners approached the altar at Holy Communion. The congregation at Coolgardie differs from what is usual. The " devout feminine sex " are bat slightly in evidence, whilst the men are foremost in every religions practice. This is all the more oonsoling since, jußt now, the deaths are very many and, too often, sadden. An epidemic of typhoid fever is raging, and it has perhaps helped to quicken the faith of the Catholic people. The dread malady is the evil result of exposure, privations, rough food, bad water, and all manner of unsanitary surroundings. Proper diet and careful nursing, which are essential to the cure, are all but impossible on the goldfields. Many instances of its ravages might be given, and they are particularly sad because it is the young and vigorous who are chiefly the victims of the fell disease. A ooncert in aid of the Government hospital was given daring my stay at Ooolgardie. To attend it I had bnt to step in next door, as it was given in the •• Theatre Boyal." The yonng man who was

chief organizer of the charitable scheme, and who, being gifted with musical talents, did most of the stage business on the occasion, was prostrated by typhoid a few days after, and died in the hospital within a week or so of his being attacked by the fever. Father Duff, the resident priest, is untiring in his efforts to attend all the sick whom he cun reach. Along with the town he has the out-lying camps to see to. Some of these are distant 100 miles. On account of the great expense of keeping a horse— said to be £1 a day— he makes use of a bicycle for his journeys. The bicycle, bowever, is a delicate machine—apt to break down unexpectedly on the road. The day I arrived, the fjood priest had just come in from a sick call, in complying *ith which he had to walk 30 mi es pushing bis disablsJ wheels the whole way before him. When possible the sick of out lying places are takei into town by their compassionate neighbours. It sometimes happens, however, that a typhoid sufferer has to make his way as best he can himself from some lonely spot in the far bush where help was not at hand. This occurred to a youth who was seen lying down jast outside the chapel door one morning at its opening. He had struggled to the spot and being too weak for further effort had lain down where he was found, The priest quickly came to bis aid and prepared him for the peaceful end to all his troubles in this life. There is a great lack of adequate provision for the numbers that are now sick. The Government hospital is not, strictly speaking, a Government institution. It is managed by a local committee. Only half of the expenses incuned is defrayed at the public cost ; the other half is met by public contributions and by the charge of £2 per week to auch inmates as oau pay. There is room for fifty, but it is not enough for all the sufferers who apply for admission. Another hospital is kept as a private concern by a Catholic lady— Miss O'Brien, whose name is held in high esteem not only at Coolgardie but throughout the district. Bhe is known far and wide as a devoted, skilful, and sucoessfal nurse. Miss O'Brien was invited to the colony about two years ago by the authorities of the Wesleyan Church. She proceeded to Coolgardie, where for some time she bad oharge of the Government hospital. Thisp ost she resigned, and of late she has preferred to manage her

own institution independently of all outside control. The sick much prefer to be in her care and willingly pay, when they are able, twice the weekly fee charged elsewhere. The large tents used are sufficient for fifteen beds, and Mist O'Brien is adding to tbe accommodation as occasion offers. It was an obvious remark for me to make to the excellent young lady that she was "doing, single-handed, the work of a community." His Lordship Bishop Gibney would be glad to welcome many workers in the same sphere of usefulness. He has repeatedly made endeavours to obtain the services of a religious order of nursing sisters for the goldfields, but all his efforts in this direction have hitherto been made in vain. The great mortality does not perceptibly damp the energies of those who are in health to work. The industrial hive keeps humming though many an exhausted worker drops from tbe swarm. No less than twelve hundred gold-mining leases have been registered in the Yilgarn district, yet there are bnt twelve mines fitted np with machinery for crushing. The nntrberof leases i n some proportion represents the large number of actual discoverers of reefs. Bach believes, or at least hopes aod says, that his own is a property of immense value. Beyond doubt, a fair proportion of the finds are of sterling worth, and some of them mmt rank among the richest treasure trove ever unearthed. « Bayley's Beward Claim "is just outside the t^wn boundary of Ooolgardie. From it were taken, by six men working for four weeks with the rudest tools, 2600 ounces of pure gold. •• Honest John," from the " Wealth of Nations/ twenty-five miles distant, was a lump of gold-bearing quartz valued at £10,000, and •' Big Ben," the precious cap of the outcrop of the 11 Londonderry ," twelve miles eff, helped its lucky finders to get £180,000 and a share in future results from a syndicate of capitalists who set a value of £700,000 on their property when they placed it on the London market. Not all the actual discoverers of even rich mines are equally fortunate. Usually it is not the miner, but the dealer in mines, tbe speculator, the financier, who comes off with most of the profits. There are two in tbe trade, Bnd tbey are not Arcades ambo. There is the digger and the dealer. The one goes out to the bush, and at every risk and discomfort of life works hi»rd to win a golden prize ; the other, more comfortably and more profitably, stays, at home, buys and sells, schemes and, above all the reßt successfully "promotes." The witty description somewhere given of the latter gentleman hints at what tbe honest digger may expect as the result of of bis operations : " The promoter is one who sells what he hasn't got to people who don't want it." Sixty-seven West Australian gold companies were registered in London up to the end of November, 1894 ; their capital summed up over £s,ooo,ooo— from which it may be inferred that the " promoter " has had a brisk time of it lately, •• Specimens " are on sale in the shops of Ooolgardie, and their coat is beyond the value of the gold they contain— in jest, or earnest, it was told me that tbey are chiefly in demand by customers occupied in the art of floating mines. Not even a large number of " wild-oat " companies will be able to permanently injure the mineral prospects of West Australia. It has been too well ascertained that beneath vast tracts of her immense area of 1,060,000 eqaare miles lie hidden golden stores in great abundance. For sixty years the least and slowest of the Bister oolonies, « at last she moves " on the road to a great and forward place among them in the not distant future. It was a lucky day for the Colony when in 1882 the services of a clever Dublin scientistlate Mr B. T. Hardman, F.8.0.5.1.-were accepted as Government geologist. Mr Hardman spent two years traversing tbe wilds of Kimberley. Oa returning to Perth, he furnlßhed Government with a valuable report, attached to which was a large map of the north,

stained yellow in many places to indicate likely spots for gold. Hardman did not live to see the fulfilment of bis forecast. But old miners in the eastern colonies caught sight of the yellow map, which had to be sent to Melbourne to be prioted. They gave Eimberley a trial. The venture soon became a rush. Surely enough Mr Hardman proved a true prophet, and his Jyellow map, in almost every inßtsnce, a safe guide to the right localities. The Kimberley rush fell tff, but not all the miners went away. Many remained 5 tbey tried other places for gold ; they kept up the search in places further south. By successive discoveries they proved the fact that an auriferous belt of country extends from Kimbetley to tbe southern coast. Kimberley was proclaimed a goldfield in 1886, Ashburton in 1890, Murchison in 1891, and Coolgardie in 1892. Tbe yellow map first set the ball a-rolling. Its clever compiler before passing over to the great majority might have truly said with the ancient sage, Nim However interesting may be a flying visit to Ooolgardie, restdence in the town would be quite a different affair. It must be said that it is neither a pleasant nor an economical place in which to live. It cos.B £10 to get there, and then the high prices charged for everything cause the heavy outlay to be continual. As to getting to Ooolgardie, a first-class fare from Perth to Northam is twelve shilliags ; Northam to Southern Cross, £2 5s ; thence to Ooolgardie, £5 ; to which must be added £2 expenses by the way. Of course the trip can be done in humbler style. "Swampers," for instance, pet through for a pound, or so. The strange term is much heard on the road. I asked a gentleman residing at Coolgardie— a barrister, and the eon of an Irish judge and baronet—did be know the meaning of the word "swamper." "I ought to know," he said, "1 was a ' swamper ' myself, that is, I tramped it all the way, and helped the teamsters when required, in return for which they carried my swag gratis." The inevitable hardships of the trip were made, in my case as light as possible by the kind attentions of Mr Joseph McDowell, constructor of the Northam and Southren Crow railway. He lent me his buggy and splendid pair of ponies, and his genial bro! her, Mr Martin McDowell, drove me to Coolgardie and back again. I returned, much indebted to these good friends, and not a little relieved at finding myself restored to a qaiet and peaceful manner of life - A. Bouhkb, V. G. Perth, West Australia.