The working-men’s club and library, a very nice building, built of mud-bricks in their spare time by the men, who are very proud of it, faces the mine. The term “mud-bricks” may need explanation: the bricks are made from a kind of reddish soil found here, and when moulded into shape look very well.
The first hotel in Mount Morgans had just been opened when I was there. I had great difficulty in getting accommodation, and was obliged to share the room of the landlady’s daughter. The proprietor was doing a roaring trade. There was a large dining-room, which was turned into a dormitory at night. Visitors were constantly coming and going, so much being heard on the lower fields of the recently wonderful finds. The post-office is as yet a very primitive place, merely a canvas tent with a bough-shed over it; but new buildings are going up in all directions as fast as they can be built. Land brings a good price, plots now fetching as much as £300 (which six months ago could have been got for the pegging out). When a goldfield is proclaimed, the warden of the place gives permission for people to take up ground for residential areas. Then comes a wild rush to get in the first pegs. These pegs are to mark the ground which an applicant desires to take up. When the warden’s permission was given, at a court held at Mount Margaret, numbers of men hurried to Mount Morgans to peg the best plots of land. Some went on bicycles, some on horses, and those who arrived first of course got the best choice. One well-known man had an old racehorse which he had “kept dark,” as they say, and he outpaced them all and got the choicest plot on the township. He has since erected the second hotel there, and sold it, I am told, for a very large sum before it was completed.
Very few women are yet on the field, and as I sat writing in the only little parlour, all the male population seemed to walk past the open door (the room being too small and hot to shut it) and to gaze at me as if I were something rare and remarkable.
With the exception of the few golden hills, the country was very flat, and cyclists were constantly arriving. The country around Morgans is very pretty in some parts, and there is plenty of nice grass growing. Every coach coming up from Menzies was crowded with miners and prospectors, who, having heard so much of this wonderful district, where a plentiful supply of water is to be obtained, were getting out as fast as possible. Not far from Mount Morgans, a mine, which is reported very rich, has lately been discovered by Mr. Dunne, who found the Wealth of Nations Mine at Coolgardie. Mr. Alick Forrest is largely interested, and lately paid a visit of inspection to it.
It is a very pleasant drive of six miles to the now deserted township of Mount Margaret, and three miles farther on is the Mount itself, from which a grand view of the country is obtained. The enormous Lake Carey (salt) stretched far away in the distance. This is one of the innumerable salt lakes of Western Australia, and with the glorious sun shining on it it looks like a lake of gold. Sir John Forrest was the first white man to set foot in this district, and stood on the Mount 30 years ago, when he named it Margaret after his mother and his intended wife.
As I returned to Mount Morgans in the cool of the evening, a very large tribe of blacks (natives) appeared on the scene, but they were very peaceful, and asked me for “bacca” and sixpence, which the king having obtained, they all appeared satisfied. They were dressed in civilised clothes, and looked quite fat. “White-man’s tucker,” as they call it, and which they beg for as they go along, seemed to suit them. They had just lit their camp fires. The aborigines’ means of fire lighting is by wood friction, and as it takes a long time to get a spark they usually carry fire-sticks, which keep alight a long time and save them much trouble. They often bring into the townships or camps pieces of gold which they have found in the bush, for they know they will receive something, although they do not know the real value. They know, however, the superior value of silver to copper, being aware that they can get much more “bacca,” or food, for a silver piece than for a copper one, and when they take their finds to any one, asking “how much this fella?” meaning “what is it worth.” If it is a small find, and they are told the value in pennyweights, they will say “Bael (no) pennyweight, that fella shillingweight.” (The native, in his attempt to talk English, terms nearly every person place, or thing “fella.”) They told me in their broken way that this tribe had travelled from Kalgoorlie, and was going to the Murchison, looking for a renegade blackfellow called “Kangaroo,” who had transgressed their laws, and whom they meant to kill. Let us hope, for “Kangaroo’s” sake, that they never found him.
Mount Wilga is a very rich property which lies on the other side of Lake Carey, is in a country that might almost be called undiscovered. But Mr. G. W. Hall has discovered its richness, and sent up a manager and gang of men, who are working away with great vigour. The lode is as big and rich as any one could desire. Some of the ore from a good depth that has been assayed has yielded 20 ounces to the ton; how much equally rich will be got remains to be proved.
Although the supply of water for mining purposes at Mount Morgans is not adequate, there is plenty for domestic purposes, the wells sunk in many parts of the township giving a good supply. In the rainy season, which, however, seldom comes, the lagoon that supplies Westralian Mount Morgans Mine with water is a huge lake, and teems with waterfowl. Kangaroos and wallabies sport around its banks, and give great opportunities to the sportsmen, who during other parts of the year have to let their guns lie idle.
