Eulaminna

a couple of months ago I stopped for a look at what I hope was supposed to be an old rail station and townsite at Eulamina - on the East side of the Kookynie-Malcolm road. I am going to be back there next week and as luck would have it when interweb searching is done for Eulamina mine and town it puts it on the road East of Malcolm (towards Laverton) whereas the one I am after is Sth of Malcolm. There is also a BIG open cut mine at the place I stopped at that was not operating - I may not have entered the mine...... The question which I know will not prove difficult - what is the name of the mine (not operating) which is on the Kookynie - Malcolm rd and was the place I stopped at Eulamina or something else? thanks and given what is supposed to happening out that way this weekend with the weather Tuesday should not have too much in the way of dust problems.
Slow down and relax......

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Reply By: Phil B (WA) - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 02:08

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 02:08
Hi Maverick

You must have stopped at another place.
The main mining centres along the Kookynie-Malcolm stretech are Tampa, Butterfly and Melita.


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Follow Up By: MARIC - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 11:13

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 11:13
Drove along that road end of September however can't help you.
However if you get on the mines dept Tengraph it will give you all the current leases and further searching you may be able to ascertain name or owners.
Cheers Ric
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Reply By: The Explorer - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 11:58

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 11:58
Hello

The only two rail sidings along the track between Malcolm and Kookynie are Butterfly and Melita. Butterfly is about 17km North of Kookynie at 29° 11' 12" S & 121° 28' 09" E. Melita is about 32 km north of Kookynie at 29° 03' 00" S & 121° 29' 13" E.

There are only two open cut mines in close proximity to the road, one is quite small and is located about 4km north of Kookynie...it is not near any rail siding so suspect its not the one you spotted. The other quite large open cut mine is located 4 km south west of the Butterfly siding (14 km north of Kookynie) and was called the Orient Well Gold Mine (but also referred to as the Tampa Gold Mine) and was owned by Nex Metals.

Cheers
Greg



I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Reply By: Ron N - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 15:13

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 15:13
The town and mine was also spelt/named EULAMINNA. It did boast a Federal Hotel before and a school before and just after WW1.
Eulaminna was the site of W.A.'s largest copper mine, but it had a short life and was largely abandoned during WW1, like so many of W.A.'s early mines

The location is 4 miles SW of Murrin Murrin. I'm not sure that Eulaminna was ever right on the Leonora-Laverton line, so maybe it was never a station or siding.

Eulaminna Copper mine

The copper mine at Eulaminna was initially owned by Murrin Murrin Copper Mines. They went into liquidation around 1903 and all the mine assets were sold off.

The W.A. Copper Co. then took over and operated the Eulaminna copper mine with a degree of success up until 1908, when it too appears to have collapsed. The mine at this point was named the Anaconda mine.
The WACC built a school at Eulaminna free of charge for the W.A. Govt Education Dept.

Copper mining resumed again shortly after the WACC collapse, and the mine was working at the start of WW1. The mine appears to have been worked in fits and starts, as it was a difficult and costly mine with much chemical activity underground due to active free radicals.
The Westralia Copper Mine was operating it at the end of WW1 - then the Westralia company changed its name to Anaconda Copper Mines. ACM produced 4962 Australian pounds worth of copper from the Eulaminna mine in 1919.
The Nangaroo Company reportedly owned Anaconda Copper Mines, and there are reports of ACM still operating in 1922.
Nangaroo worked two mines in the region, the second much smaller mine was called the Nangaroo.

I would guess that Eulaminna started to seriously decline once the agricultural rush of the early 1920's started.
Many mines closed down in this period as miners went South to acquire cheap farmland, and to get in on the "farm rush" during the 1920's.
Large numbers of houses were dismantled and transported South from the goldfields to the Agricultural areas, in the period around 1922-1929.

I trust this info assists you in your search.

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 15:22

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 15:22
This bloke says the townsite was initially gazetted as ANACONDA in 1904.
The name was officially changed to EULAMINNA on 24th July 1907.

Ghost towns of W.A.
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 16:13

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 16:13
The 250K geology map of the Eulaminna area shows the location of the old rail line. It appears to pass within a stones throw of the Eulaminna mine (though the small scale of the map makes it hard to judge but pretty close in any event)...not sure where the actual town was relative to the mine.

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 19:25

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 19:25
O.K., here we have some more clues. From the Kalgoorlie Miner dated 15th July 1907 ...

"The name of the Anaconda SIDING at 550 miles, on the eastern goldfields railway system, will be altered to Eulaminna from the 1st of August next".

Kalgoorlie Miner news - change of name of siding

Thus we have proof that Anaconda/Eulaminna definitely was a siding on the Leonora-Laverton line.
It's highly likely the Anaconda/Eulaminna townsite was located very close to the siding.

Unfortunately I don't know if there's any way of knowing precisely where the 550 mile marker was on the Eastern Goldfields railway - because the original line from Perth to Kalgoorlie was abandoned many decades ago when the standard gauge went in.
Perhaps there may be some old railway maps with distance markers on them still in existence in the Battye Library.
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Follow Up By: Member - Rod N (QLD) - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 19:57

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 19:57
From Geoproject Historical Gazeteer

ANACONDA Rail station/siding 28° 57.7' 121° 46.3'
Opened in 1905. On railway Malcolm-Laverton at 538m21c. Renamed to EULAMINNA in 1907

ANACONDA Townsite 28° 57.8' 121° 46.2' Named in 1904. Renamed to EULAMINNA in 1907.

ANACONDA MINE Mine 28° 57.9' 121° 46.1' Established in 1900. Named after Anaconda copper mine in USA. Renamed to EULAMINNA MINE.

ANACONDA SCHOOL School 28° 57.9' 121° 46.2'
Established in 1907. Renamed to EULAMINNA SCHOOL in 1907

Was that railway actually part of the Perth Kalgoorlie line or in fact a branch line?
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:28

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:28
Rod N - Thanks for that, that's great info.

The Leonora-Laverton line was an eastward extension of the Northerly-running Kalgoorlie-Leonora line - and the entire rail network from Perth to Kalgoorlie and radiating North and South from Kalgoorlie, was called the Eastern Goldfields Railway.

You could catch a train in Laverton from 1904 onwards and travel right through to Perth - although it would have meant a change of trains in Kalgoorlie due to differing schedules between Perth-Kalgoorlie trains and Kalgoorlie-Laverton trains.

In the same way, once the rail line was completed from Kalgoorlie to Esperance (in 1927 from memory), you could catch a train in Esperance and go right through to Perth on rail, via Kalgoorlie.

Cheers, Ron.
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:29

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:29
"Was that railway actually part of the Perth Kalgoorlie line or in fact a branch line?"

A branch (upon a branch). The rail line, upon which Eulaminna was located, ran from Leonora to Laverton...~ 200km north of Kalgoorlie. It was connected to Kalgoorlie by another branch that ran south. I assume the existing Kalgoorlie to Leonora line follows same/similar path but they didn't bother up keeping/upgrading/re-establishing the line to Laverton (east of Malcolm, past Eulaminna).

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Ron N - Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:53

Sunday, Oct 19, 2014 at 20:53
Explorer - When W.A.'s narrow gauge rail network was upgraded North and South of Kalgoorlie around 1971 and 1972, the standard gauge only followed the old narrow gauge alignment roughly - and in many places the line was straightened in a major fashion, and many old sidings and sections were bypassed.
This was done to allow for higher train speeds and to reduce the total distances overall.

The old W.A. narrow gauge network lines were called "the thousand pound railways".
That's because any successful railway extension construction tender before WW1 had to meet a guideline that the rail line installation cost was not to exceed approximately 1000 pounds a mile! ($2000 per 1.609km).

As a result, minimal work was carried out by way of earthworks, bridges and culverts on these railways - the railway construction companies preferring to follow features with the narrow gauge alignment, that minimised their construction costs.

The brother and I purchased all the buildings at the siding of Pioneer, South of Higginsville in 1972, after the new standard gauge alignment bypassed Pioneer - for $200!

We got 4 timber-frame, 3-room fettlers cottages, and a large cookhouse in the deal.
We jacked up the cottages, loaded them onto one of Little's low-deck low-loaders (Little's were contractors in Kambalda), and transported all 4 of them to our gold mine at Higginsville for our personal use.

We dismantled the cookhouse (it was unable to be transported, and a large part of it was open-sided), and we used the timber for a wide range of other constructions.

Cheers, Ron.
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Reply By: Motherhen - Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 00:14

Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 00:14
Wonderful to see the research and knowledge of members here. Has your enigma been solved Maverick? Was the mine you recall on the Kookynie Malcolm Road possibly the Tampa or Orient Well Mine as described by The Explorer? A fascinating mining history of our WA Goldfields.

Mineralogy Database is in line with the findings within this thread Anaconda (Eulaminna)

This photo of colourful slag heaps Eulaminna now largely refers to the giant slag heaps, five kilometres along the road west of Murrin Murrin.

Bonzle mapping also indicates the same area Eulaminna on Bonzle mapping

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Reply By: Phil B (WA) - Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 07:19

Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 07:19
If you go to this site

History centre

you'll find info on Tampa, Murrin Murrin, Anaconda/Eulaminna etc with various items of history including maps and photos.

I reckon its a real gem of a site.



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Follow Up By: Ron N - Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 11:15

Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 11:15
Phil, that's an interesting and informative website, thanks for the link.

For W.A. country town names history, there is also a Landgate webpage (link below).
This webpage give a short history of virtually all W.A. country towns (even ghost towns), and the possible origins of their names.
Anaconda is not listed in the Landgate record - but Eulaminna is, and the short history of Eulaminna notes the earlier Anaconda name.

Landgate - History of W.A. country town names

Of course, if you type the latitude and longitude that Rod N gave, of Eulaminna, into Google Maps, the townsite survey outline is still shown on the map.
Clicking on "Earth" or satellite view shows that there is virtually nothing left, that would identify the precise location of Anaconda/Eulaminna after more than 100 years. This is typical of the old ghost towns.

Current roads and tracks in the area do not follow the original surveys of over 100 years ago, and those roads and tracks are usually aligned to more recent, and current mining operations.

Location of Eulaminna townsite

Cheers, Ron.

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Follow Up By: Phil B (WA) - Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 12:57

Monday, Oct 20, 2014 at 12:57
No worries Ron,

I should also point out there is a book called

West Australian Gold Towns and Settlements - I must declare an interest as I'm one of the authors.

http://www.hesperianpress.com/index.php/booklist/2011-06-17-03-15-02/w-titles/481-west-australian-gold-towns-and-settlements

all the best
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