Shire of Leonora - Historic Heartland of the Western Australian Goldfields

Gwalia Historical Precinct

A community museum was formed by a group of residents from Leonora-Gwalia after the large company of Berwick Moreing closed the Sons of Gwalia mine down in December 1963. The town of Gwalia was basically a mining town and most of the residents were employed either on the mine or associated industries connected to the mine. So when the mine closed, the town quickly became deserted, and the little temporary miners houses, shops, boarding houses and other important buildings were left empty to the elements. Theses included the Gwalia State School, the State Hotel, Mine Manager's & Superintendent's houses and the Mine Office & Assay building. Slowly as the years went by, people started to realise that the town was disappearing with the impact of the harsh elements of the Goldfields outback.

The Museum was opened in the Mine Manager's office, then owned by Western Mining, in 1972 and the Sons of Gwalia mine itself was reopened by a company called Sons of Gwalia in 1981, and they mined the site via 'open pit' mining. The open pit is right along side the Museum. This provided additional interest for tourists who then could watch the mine in operation from the safety of a tower overlooking the pit. In 1987 the old Oregon headframe and steam winding engine were relocated to the Museum precinct, saving it from the open pit which had since taken over the area of the old mine.

These two exhibits were very important to save - the headframe being of Oregon pine, designed by Herbert Hoover (later to become the 31st American President), and the engine being the largest steam winding engine in Australia. In 1912 the winder had come from England, designed by Frazer & Chalmers. These are two very important pieces of history for the Museum. They both now stand overlooking the new mining operations very majestically.

In 1996 the area celebrated its centenary and part of a 'gift' to the town was a project where many of the old miners huts were going to be restored. As they had been left neglected for some thirty years suffering cyclones, wind, rain & extreme heat, these were in, to say the least, very poor condition, with some not having lining, roofs or floors. These camps were built as shelters by the miners using left over filter cloth, old explosive boxes and tin from the mine. The miners were not, in most cases, architects or builders but mainly Italian miners looking for shelter and something substantial to put over their tents.

The community of Leonora-Gwalia has worked very hard at restoring these camps using similar implements and materials that were used nearly 100 years ago. These buildings are open for tourists to wander through and all that is asked is that nothing be touched or taken, and that children are under supervision.

Restoration has been completed on the old assay building (now the archives office) with the generous help of Sons of Gwalia Ltd. Restoration is currently underway on the old mine manager's house where Herbert Hoover, then Mine Manager, held his 24th birthday.

The State Hotel was the first built in a range of 'State Hotels' constructed throughout Western Australia. Now it is used by Sons of Gwalia Ltd as their office. This building is a two-story grand brick building. Sons of Gwalia are now mining underground as happened over 100 years ago. The old mine went down 5,316 feet.

At the Museum, there is 'Ken', one of the woodline trains that operated gathering wood for the mines. They travelled up to 400 miles, carting over 30,000 tonnes of firewood for the Sons of Gwalia mine alone. This was an associated industry. Also connected to the mine was the foundry. Both these industries provided valuable alternative work to mining and provided the youth of the towns with apprenticeships in varying areas.

The Gwalia Historical Museum features cultural heritage of the Aborigines, Afghans, Italians, Yugoslavians and other cultures from this area. There is also one of the original electric trams which operated between the towns of Leonora and Gwalia up until 1908. Previous public transport included a steam driven tram which, after servicing the twin towns, was sold to Bunnings to be used at the Tullis sawmills in the south of Western Australia. The Museum also has a fully restored 1935 International truck that was used as a mail truck in the area. The original horse drawn hearse of Leonora, which was put on the back of a 1927 Chevrolet truck, is still used for funerals today. Numerous carts and transportation items are also on display.

Leonora is the centre of a very large pastoral community which started with the arrival of the miners. Though predominately sheep-based, some beef was also grazed in the region. Unfortunately the pastoral industry has declined in recent years due to people wanting different lifestyles than the hardship and loneliness of the outback. Explorers that travelled throughout the area included John Forrest, Frank Hann, David Carnegie, Ernest Giles, Tietkin and Gas Luck.

The Western Australia Tourist Commission contracted Elle McPherson for television advertisments using the theme 'Holidays of an entirely different nature' and Leonora-Gwalia was lucky enough to have three of the key shoots done in its region. The major poster of 'Panning for Gold' that travelled the world was photographed at the Museum.