600 ks east of Perth, the City of Kalgoorlie was a unique expression of gold fever. Unlike most goldmining towns, which didn’t last forever, Kalgoorlie still includes the famous Golden Mile and has an economy driven by gold since 1893. The central Hannan St has fine Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Here visitors can visit the lovely hotels and the important civic buildings that include the Town Hall (1908) and the School of Mines Building.
In the late 1890s, Kalgoorlie’s streets were booming as the wealth generated in the gold mines was displayed in grand, impressive architecture. As a result, the role of hotels was crucial to the goldfields’ social and economic life. If mines were the sources of the miner's wages, the hotels were the treasuries into which a lot of it was poured. They provided drinks, food and accommodation, AND provided workers with comfortable surroundings.
For a city that stretches just 67sq km with a population now of 30,000+ people, the volume of pubs in Kalgoorlie was excessive.. and is now impressive. In the early 1900s, when the Goldfields were dominant, there were 93 hotels and 8 breweries in the town. C.Y O'Connor (1843-1902) was West Australia’s Chief Engineer who created the colony's railways, water supply, roads and harbours. Before he established the pipeline, water was scarce. Thankfully the miners believed that beer was cheaper, and much tastier, than water! 
For a city that stretches just 67sq km with a population now of 30,000+ people, the volume of pubs in Kalgoorlie was excessive.. and is now impressive. In the early 1900s, when the Goldfields were dominant, there were 93 hotels and 8 breweries in the town. C.Y O'Connor (1843-1902) was West Australia’s Chief Engineer who created the colony's railways, water supply, roads and harbours. Before he established the pipeline, water was scarce. Thankfully the miners believed that beer was cheaper, and much tastier, than water!
Recreation Hotel Boulder, 1898
Most interesting pubs, architecturally-speaking:
1] The Kalgoorlie Hotel in Hannon St was designed in the Federation architectural style (1897) and is one of the oldest buildings with a balcony in town. After dark, Judd’s Pub is popular with regular live music and for touring bands. The name Judd refers to publican James Judd Mahony who ran the pub from the 1960s-80s.
1] The Kalgoorlie Hotel in Hannon St was designed in the Federation architectural style (1897) and is one of the oldest buildings with a balcony in town. After dark, Judd’s Pub is popular with regular live music and for touring bands. The name Judd refers to publican James Judd Mahony who ran the pub from the 1960s-80s.
2] Paddy’s Irish Bar at the Exchange Hotel (1900) was designed for the Wilkie Bros. who were contractors for the Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie Railway line. The two complex storeys are made up of bricks, iron and a timber balustrade, a corner tower and corrugated galvanised iron gabled roof.
3] York Hotel opened in Feb 1901. Located over the road from the Govt Buildings Complex, this very ornate hotel was designed by Daniel Edmunds. He practised architecture in Kalgoorlie in 1899-1912 and was responsible for the City Markets. The eastern main entrance opened into a luxurious lounge hall, from which the main staircase led to the bedrooms above. Note the handsome circular dome for light, stamped metal ceilings and finely carved woodwork.
York Hotel, front (above)
and interior (below)
4] A very historic pub is the Palace Hotel (1897) in Hannan St, built for the huge sum of £17,000. Because the town was awash with gold money, Palace Hotel was to be the most luxurious hotel outside Perth, with its own electricity and water-processing plant. This two-storey hotel was made from stone quarried from the local Ashlar quarries, and the furniture was supplied from Melbourne. With its prominent corner position, the Palace Hotel has been the scene of many famous public speeches delivered from the balconies.
Palace Hotel, front entrance (above)
Palace Hotel, balcony bar (below)
5] Boulder, now part of Kalgoorlie, has 8 pubs. Tattersalls was built as a two-storey hotel on a corner site, designed in my favourite Federation Filigree style c1890-c1915, with a veranda and balcony that extended across the facades. The exterior features a balustraded parapet; and a triangular pediment highlights the entrance and the arched sash windows. Note the bar named for the world-famous billiards star and Kalgoorlie local, Walter Lindrum (1898–1960).
6] Criterion Hotel was built in the Federation Free style, a small but significant part of the Hannan St streetscape. Built to the footpath line with a balustraded parapet and highly decorative pediment, the timber veranda extends the length of the facade. It has an unusual parapet and some leadlight glazing in the street frontage.
7] At a licensing court in June 1900, plans for the stunning Victorian Oriental Hotel were presented: a corner pub building with 12 bedrooms near the York Hotel. Money for the pub came from the Wilkie Bros who built the rail line from Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie, making it become Kalgoorlie’s most exotic architecture.
6] Criterion Hotel was built in the Federation Free style, a small but significant part of the Hannan St streetscape. Built to the footpath line with a balustraded parapet and highly decorative pediment, the timber veranda extends the length of the facade. It has an unusual parapet and some leadlight glazing in the street frontage.
7] At a licensing court in June 1900, plans for the stunning Victorian Oriental Hotel were presented: a corner pub building with 12 bedrooms near the York Hotel. Money for the pub came from the Wilkie Bros who built the rail line from Southern Cross to Kalgoorlie, making it become Kalgoorlie’s most exotic architecture.
The Kalgoorlie Race Riots began in Jan 1934 when sportsman George E Jordan was twice ejected from the Hannans Hotel by Italian barman Claudio Mattaboni. When Jordan returned to the hotel the following day to fight Mattaboni, he fell, broke his skull and died in hospital. Rumours that Mattaboni had murdered Jordan sparked rioting, violence and looting of migrant-run facilities, the riots starting AT Hannans Hotel. The old Amalfi Restaurant was also burnt.
Kalgoorlie Town Hall
Today the pubs are still flooded with miners (and tourists) after work, just as they were 120 years ago. And today Goldfields Tourism Network runs excellent pub tours in Boulder & Kalgoorlie. Photo credits: Historical Australian Towns
The Australia Hotel
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25 comments:
Wonderful architecture. Thank you for this post. I once met someone from Kalgoorlie but I had no idea where it was or what it looked like.
I can imagine gold miners loving the beer each evening after work, but are the pubs still filled these days ?
Fun60
The reason you had no idea about Kalgoorlie was because 81% of Australians live along the coast, mostly in the capital cities. I have lived in Australia all my life except for 5 years overseas, and would be hard pushed to find the city's exact location. However it is worth visiting because gold was so important for 19th century migration from overseas (or even interstate).
Train Man
The population of all the Gold Fields, especially Kalgoorlie, climbed to 180,000 by 1900 - from overseas and from the Eastern Australian States. They filled the 100 pubs to overflowing every evening. So of course they wanted the most inviting architecture in Western Australia.
Kalgoorlie only has 29,000 people now, and although gold is still found occasionally, those citizens can barely make a dent on the 25 pubs that still operate.
These wonderful buildings seem to be in the true Australian vernacular style. The buildings with verandas all around them remind me of what I saw in Cairns.
By the way, drinking beer was probably safer than drinking the water!
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bazza
I could have called the Australian vernacular style "Federation Filigree", but the 1890-1914 era would be recognised better outside Australia as "Victorian-Edwardian". The best elements of Federation pub architecture were long balconies, fresh air, shade and decoration largely limited to cast-iron balustrades. Just as you noted in Cairns :)
The Exchange Hotel, York Hotel and the Duke of Cornwall Hotel were darker, heavier, had lots of chimneys and towers, and limited open verandas at ground level and above.
They are marvellous buildings. It is remarkable that if they don't get there way, properties owned by developers somehow burn down. I don't know about now but into the 1980s at least there were still many brothels in the town operating quite openly.
Andrew
I don't know if the State Register of Heritage protects historically and architecturally important brothels, but it certainly has 387 places heritage-listed sites in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder including Cornwall Hotel, Exchange Hotel, York Hotel, Tattersall's Hotel and the old British Arms Hotel. Oh yes,,, and a few schools, churches, fire stations and railway facilities.
Previously known as The Historic Recreation Hotel (built in 1898), The Rec is a Federation style Heritage Building, located in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s tourism precinct. A place where the community comes to unwind, have a bite and enjoy a refreshment, along with a dedicated Sports Bar. The Rec is the place to be.
therec
I had not heard of Recreation Hotel before, so thank you for noting the most important issues:
the Victorian date 1898, two storeys, a veranda, an important country town corner and continuity of use. Historians (and tourists) always love it when important piece of goldfields history is protected and refurbished.
I will add a photo.
Dear Helen, thank you for that interesting post about a town I had never heard of before - but which - IF my wish to visit Australia ever comes true - I want to see: such impressive hotels! So much history!
I have to read the passage about Hoover again - because I thought him being first a mining engineer.
PS: The beautiful buildings remind me very much of some scenes in "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" - also so splendid Australian architecture.
Britta
me too. Almost every time we ever went to Perth and the West Coast, we flew over the top of Kalgoorlie by plane. So if you ever plan to see any part of Australia that is not on the coast line, you have to make special plans eg a cross-country train trip that is great fun.
For a first article on Hoover, perhaps read Australian Dictionary of Biography
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hoover-herbert-clark-6729
Britta
the age of Kalgoorlie architecture WILL remind you of Miss Fisher Mysteries set in the 1920s. They didn't have to create a single building for the tv programme because they utilised all the existing late Victorian-Edwardian architecture in Melbourne! Just note that Kalgoorlie is a desert city, much hotter and drier than the Eastern cities like Melbourne.
Wow, thank you Helen, I didn't know the facts about Melbourne and its fine houses being used for the TV series Miss Fisher, which give you real eye candy! I just saw the houses in the series and thought: Beautiful! (as the costumes too, I want to have one of Miss Fishers great clothes! (A pair of her earrings I found to buy online - but I already have very similar ones).
What amazing architecture. Some of the old pubs are wonderful. I loved in Sydney for a couple of years, before the deregulation of the airlines, so internal flights were horribly expensive. I had a company car and boy did I use it. One Easter we drove to Darwin, stopping off at Uluru on the way. Driving home, our plan had been to go from Mount Isa to Rockhampton, but that road was closed due to a big wet. We detoured via Townsville!
Never got out to the west coast…that was a drive too far.
Thanks for posting this.
These architectures and building designs are really good, diverse and unique. I used to work there as part of my rotation for medicine training. It was a time not to forget easily.
My dad was in Kalgoorlie as a young man working on the Lake View and Star Mine, and then on a mine in Boulder.
He wrote a book abut his time in Australia “A Song for the Mavis”. In Kalgoorlie he had lodgings at 300 Hannah Street.
One of the things he wrote about Kalgoorlie was the lushness of the small park in Kalgoorlie. This was in the early 1920’s. Years later when my dad was retired and living in England, his grandson visited Kalgoorlie. Perhaps I will get there one day. I loved this blog post all the photos and details. Another place I am interested in is Brooke. W. Australia. How do you chose what you feature?
Traveller
yes...that is true for all geographically large nations. I would say the same thing for India, Canada, Russia, France, Germany, USA, Brasil, China etc.
A person cannot possibly know all aspects of the nation's culture unless we visit outside the biggest cities. I know every single spot on the eastern coast of Australia from Cairns to Adelaide, yet I have never been to Uluru or Darwin. Even though we lived in the West for two years, and I got to know Perth very well, the west coast is indeed a drive too far most times.
Britta
Melbourne developed beautiful architecture because
1. we were the biggest Australian city until 1903
2. the national capital was here until Canberra was built many years later
3. we didn't allow convicts to settle here, unlike some other states
4. the Gold Rush here was very successful and
5. expansion in the 1880s and 1890s made Melbourne one of the richest cities in the world.
roentare
doing a rotation for medicine training is often a brilliant way to spend your House Year in widely differing circumstances. My husband did one 3-month rotation in European Gaza Hospital, and had to learn about a new culture very quickly. It was a great experience.
You must have learned a great deal about Kalgoorlie and the Gold Fields.
Jean
I am delighted... I found the book in the National Library of Australia straight away, saying "Autobiography of the author's thirteen years in Australia from 1926 to 1939 as a teenager and growing into a young man and the importance of the pearling lugger the Mavis."
Boyup Brook was not a family place to me, until it became known as the Country Music Capital of Western Australia; it is in the S.W corner of the state :)
Re selecting topics for blog posts, it didn't take me long to see that some eras and some themes were hugely popular, while others were read by very few blog readers. At the bottom of the page, I added the most popular posts (thousands of readers): "Californian Bungalow: Australia's Favourite Interwar Home"; "Agatha Christie's greatest mystery: her husband's sex life"; and "Napoleon's house in exile in St Helena" etc. Others were read by no-one but my relatives eg "Anglo Saxon gold and silver".
Hi Hels - Glad you found the book. I have enjoyed discovering your blog. I am looking forward to reading Anglo Saxon Gold and Silver, and some of your other posts. Jean
I hope these buildings can be saved in the future because they are not only attractive, but are so historical. I enjoyed seeing this bit of the world. I hope one day I can make the trip Down Under. hugs-Erika
Erika
I hope you can fly to Australia for a holiday of learning and sight seeing. But remember that Perth and Kalgoorlie are 3,000 ks away from the east coast, and you will need to allocate the time to see these amazing places.
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