Sandstone has a number of lovely old historic buildings and also has a spectacular display of wildflowers at this time of year.
We stopped overnight in Leonora in the middle of the Northern Goldfields just down the road from the now ghost town of Gwalia.
Abandoned virtually overnight in 1963 when the Sons of Gwalia mine closed down, it remains as a monument to the WA gold rush. People just up and left, leaving behind their belongings, cars and furniture where it mostly remains today.
The houses are corrugated iron humpies. Inside these miner’s shacks, jackets hang from coat hooks and kerosene-tin drawers sit intact on the floor amongst the pots, pans and broken crockery.
It is quite eerie wandering around the deserted town and peering into the lives of the inhabitants.
In Gwalia is also Hoover House which is been completely restored to it’s former glory as the home of Herbert Hoover who was the 31st president of the United States and manager of the Sons of Gwalia mine. The house is now part of the museum but also operates as a B&B on weekends.
It is a stark contrast to the iron humpies that the miners lived in. The dining area of the house was the site of the famous gold bar dinner, where four large bars of gold were placed on the table to celebrate a years worth of gold mined which would in todays money have been valued at over a million dollars.
We stopped overnight in Leonora in the middle of the Northern Goldfields just down the road from the now ghost town of Gwalia.
Abandoned virtually overnight in 1963 when the Sons of Gwalia mine closed down, it remains as a monument to the WA gold rush. People just up and left, leaving behind their belongings, cars and furniture where it mostly remains today.
The houses are corrugated iron humpies. Inside these miner’s shacks, jackets hang from coat hooks and kerosene-tin drawers sit intact on the floor amongst the pots, pans and broken crockery.
It is quite eerie wandering around the deserted town and peering into the lives of the inhabitants.
In Gwalia is also Hoover House which is been completely restored to it’s former glory as the home of Herbert Hoover who was the 31st president of the United States and manager of the Sons of Gwalia mine. The house is now part of the museum but also operates as a B&B on weekends.
It is a stark contrast to the iron humpies that the miners lived in. The dining area of the house was the site of the famous gold bar dinner, where four large bars of gold were placed on the table to celebrate a years worth of gold mined which would in todays money have been valued at over a million dollars.
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