Another coach journey of 50 miles brought me to Lawlers. I was now out of the Mount Malcolm and Mount Margaret districts, and in the East Murchison. Mount Magnet, which is on the Cue railway line, is almost in a direct line with Lawlers, and it is 130 miles from Lawlers to Menzies. Lawlers is a nice little town; all the people so friendly and pleased to see a strange lady on the field that many of them came into the hotel to see me. The buildings are creditable, and a great amount of business seemed to be doing. The gold output is steadily increasing, but although much good ore is realised, there is great difficulty experienced in getting it crushed, the batteries being too small. The people seem unusually healthy. They say no one is ever sick at Lawlers, and the soil is magnificent for growing fruit and vegetables, despite the small rainfall. Mr. Homann has a very fine garden, watered by the surplus water from the Great Western Mine, and from a well with a windmill. Melons, tomatoes, and cabbages are fully equal to any I have seen. There are also some vines that have borne beautiful grapes. If there were only a plentiful fall of rain, which unfortunately seldom happens, Lawlers could compete with any place in the matters of agriculture and viticulture. Everything has to be carted to the place by team or camel-train, consequently things of all kinds are very dear, the actual cost of carriage from Mount Magnet being £12 per ton by team and £8 by camel-train. The coach fare to that place from Lawlers, 192 miles, is £5, and to Menzies, 130 miles, £4. Until the railway went to Menzies from Kalgoorlie, most of the supplies came from Mount Magnet, but now that the traffic of Lawlers is going to Menzies, since the train service commenced, instead of Magnet, it increases daily. This, of course, will naturally benefit both places, since Menzies will now also obtain some of the splendid vegetables grown in Lawlers. Previously there were only tinned vegetables to be had there. The people of Menzies have no desire to see a railway line extended past that place, but as the Government has now decided to build a railway speedily to Leonora, the Lawlers people are hoping that at no distant time the line may be extended to their town also; Lawlers will then be the pivot between the Murchison (Cue line) and East Murchison goldfields, and with its excellent soil, its rich mines, the Great Eastern for instance, will probably become one of the principal towns in the goldfields. When the railway reaches Lawlers there will be only 192 miles of this part without train service, through which a railway could soon be made to Mount Magnet, completing a belt of rails from Perth right round the Yilgarn, Coolgardie, Mount Malcolm, Margaret, East Murchison, Murchison, and Yalgoo goldfields.
Lake Way Gold Mine
I next prepared for a long journey through the Western Australian Bush. My destination was Lake Way and Wiluna. How I was to get there I did not know, as there were no coaches even for the mails, which were only taken once a week, and then by bicycle, over a distance of 120 miles, a journey too long and too lonely for me to take alone. However, I was cheered by the news that some miners were expected at Lawlers in a day or two for whom horses were waiting. So, never doubting that they would be gallant enough to offer me a seat, I rested quietly and waited for their arrival. When they came they proved to have two friends with them, who proposed to travel on what is called the “buckboard,” that is the kind of ledge, about three feet long, for carrying luggage at the back of the buggy, and as there was only room for two persons in front there seemed to be a difficulty about conveying the whole party. However, the pleasure of having a lady to drive with them for 120 miles was great enough to make the party alter all their arrangements. One of them borrowed a bicycle, and two of us in front of the buggy, a lad and other friend on the buckboard, and four brumbies in hand, we gaily started off one fine morning. We reached the first stopping-place, Mount Sir Samuel, 31 miles off, at 4 o’clock, and put up there, as I wished to see this little place, where there are some very good mines—one, the Bellevue, being a first-rate property. Another, called the Sulphide King, is very promising. Mining here is not so hard as in some places, owing to the softness of the ground and the plentiful supply of water.
Lake Darlot is about 20 miles from here, and there is now a very promising goldfields township in the district. A wild rush occurred a few years ago. This was one of the places where great hardships were endured by the diggers on account of the terrible scarcity of provisions; the price of flour, when procurable, was at that time £5 for a small bag!
Every one at Mount Sir Samuel was very kind and hospitable, and I felt quite sorry to leave next morning, as we did at daybreak, for we wished to make a long journey that day. We should have, we knew, to camp out. I looked forward to this unusual experience with great eagerness.
As I was watching the camp making I heard “Coo-e-e! Coo-e-e!” the Australian bush cry, and presently a party of four miners rode up. They had just sold their mines for £17,000, and were on their way to Melbourne, en route for New Zealand to see their parents. They told me that, five years ago, they landed in the West with £200 between the four of them, and are now leaving with the above-mentioned sum; but they hope to come back to the Golden West after a six-months holiday. As you may imagine, they were very jolly; they took off their kits (bags), which contained provisions, we combined forces, and made a very pleasant meal under the shade of some pretty kurrajong-trees. At night, attracted by our fires, some natives appeared, but I felt quite safe with so many protectors. They made up a bed of bushes for me under the buggy, and put branches all around it. I felt as if I was in a Mia Mia (native hut), and was as comfortable as possible. I heard the natives saying, “Mimi lubra,” which means, “Woman in a tent.” They thought the men would not trouble to make a place like it for themselves, and their conjectures were right; they are not such a stupid race after all!
Early in the morning we parted company and started off again. An adventure shortly after stirred us up. A kangaroo, pursued by an emu, came on the scene, but, being so fleet, both were soon out of sight. After the excitement was over the boy on the buckboard repeated to us an essay he said he wrote at school, on the kangaroo, which struck me as being so funny that I give it you verbatim:
“The kangaroo is a quadruped, but two of his feet is only hands. He is closely related to the flea family, an’ jumps like him, an’ has the same kind of resemblance. He is Australian by birth an’ has a watch-pocket to carry his children in. There is two or more kinds of kang’roos, but they are mostly male an’ female, and live on grass, cabbage, and curren buns. The kang’roo’s tale is his chief support; it is thick at one end, and runs to the other end; it is good to jump with, and the kang’roo when it’s cut off don’t know his way home, and has to walk on his hands. The kang’roo is good for makin’ soup and bootlaces and putting in zoos, and sometimes he is presented to the roil Family to represent Australia.”