Inclined Shaft, Cue One Mine
I had heard a good deal about this centre of the Murchison, Cue, and, now that I was here, found it an agreeable place to spend a few days in. The living is in many ways immensely good, fresh milk is abundant, eggs are, it is true, 5s. a dozen, but are obtainable. The meat is the finest I have seen in the colony, and the vegetables are equally good. Passing the door of the kitchen one morning I saw a pile of cauliflowers, the outside leaves of which were 4 feet high, and the white flower on the same scale. The cabbages were as hard as a rock and over a foot and a half in diameter. Turnips and other kinds of vegetables were equally surprising. The cook told me that they were grown at Mr. Rickett’s garden, two miles out of town. To look at the barren country one would think that nothing would grow, but it justifies the words of Sir Frederick Weld, one of the first Governors, who, when people described Western Australia as a sand heap, said, “If it be only sand, it is sand that will grow anything if you give it water.” I was agreeably surprised one morning to receive a lovely bunch of mignonette and a few violets, the first of the season. I did enjoy the gift; no garden flowers ever smelled sweeter or looked prettier to me, for it was a long time since I had seen any. It was a perfect Sunday morning, and picnics and drives were the order of the day; several parties were just setting out. The people seem to be very happy, and, though so far away from their old homes, have got quite used to goldfields life and get plenty of enjoyment out of it. I drove out to some of the gardens and was surprised at the green spots in the desert. Plenty of water is got by sinking wells and the gardens are well irrigated.
There are two newspapers published at Cue. At a dinner given to the Press while I was there, one of the toasts was as follows: “Woman, second only to the Press in disseminating news.” Are we ladies to take this as a compliment, or otherwise?
It is proposed to carry the railway from Cue on to Nannine. The Cue people do not want this, as it would make Nannine the centre and spoil Cue. A splendid court-house and warden’s offices are here, as well as many other fine public buildings, shops, dwelling-houses, and hotels.
There are some good mines, but a great many of them are under exemption at present; that means, allowed to stop working for a specified time named in their application; consequently many men are out of work and the town is comparatively quiet, because these men have to go out back-prospecting, to keep their wives and children.
There are many families in Victoria and elsewhere who bless the day when the goldfields of Western Australia were discovered, and a great many miners in these districts have brought over their wives and families and have made humble but comfortable homes for them. They all seem happy, and I have talked with many of the women, who tell me that, though the life is rather rough, yet they have money always regularly coming in, while, on the other side, they had nothing to keep themselves with the failure of the banks and general crash in Melbourne having ruined so many people.
Coming back from a drive I passed the racecourse, with such a funny little grand-stand, perched on top of a rocky hill. There was to be a wild-flower show soon. The ladies were working hard to make it a success. There seemed to be a great many of them here, and yet it is only a few years since the arrival of a fair lady in Cue was an event of importance, in which almost the entire population showed their interest by crowding round the coach. Wages are still very good. A housekeeper will get £3 a week; barmaids, £3 10s.; housemaids and waitresses, £2 10s.; and a lady to whom I was speaking told me she was extremely tired, from having had to do all the washing for the family herself, as the laundrywoman wanted £1 per day for doing it, or 15s. for half a day! Chinese are sometimes engaged as servants, and, as a rule, give satisfaction. No Chinaman or coloured man is allowed to mine; in Western Australia they are tolerated as gardeners or servants only.
Mr. A. W. Walder has a large station called Coodardy, 20 miles from Cue. It extends nearly 100 miles up towards Lake Way. There are always 1500 head of cattle and 4000 or 5000 sheep on it to supply the necessities of the Cue and Mount Magnet districts. This number is supplemented by drafts from the far north, even as far as Gascoyne and Kimberley. The feed is good, as may be supposed from the beautiful quality of the meat. It is chiefly salt-bush, of which the stock are very fond, and which does not grow very high, but is most nourishing. The water supply for them is drawn from wells by blacks kept for that purpose.
Day Dawn, where the largest mines are situated, is four miles from Cue. One of these is called the Consolidated Murchison Gold Mines, Limited. The machinery on these mines is magnificent, and has cost an enormous sum of money. The cyanide process, all of which the assayer showed me, was most interesting. The various articles used in assaying are very delicate—scales that will weigh a breath and little wee china basins the size of a doll’s cup. The splendid laboratory was full of different chemicals; there were three immense rooms for the cyanide and assaying processes.