Nannine is a ghost town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. It is located on the northern bank of Lake Anneen, approximately 35 kilometres south-southwest of
Meekatharra.
It was formerly a gold mining town.
John Connolly discovered gold at the site in 1890, prompting a gold rush to the area. A town was proclaimed in September 1891 and gazetted in 1893. It is claimed that it was the first town in the region.
By 1894 the town was large enough to be given its own electoral district, and in 1896 construction began on a Northern Railway between Nannine and
Cue which was completed in 1903. The continuation of the line to
Meekatharra was begun in 1909.
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The earliest days of gold discovery at this site are shrouded in controversy, but according to one source it is likely that the first suspicions of gold in the area were apparently held by Ingpen and Watts, station hands on the Annean pastoral station. In about May 1890 they showed the site to J. F. Connolly, a New South Wales mining engineer, who found gold but he did not appear to have been too impressed. In October 1890 McPherson and Peterkin were directed to the same site and found significant quantities of gold. By August 1891 they and others had recovered about 1,700 ounces of gold. The Murchison Goldield, which included Nannine was proclaimed in September 1891. By December about seven hundred men were at the field.
The earliest recorded hotel was opened by Dan Downie in January 1892, but it may not have been the first hotel built. It is probably the Pioneer hotel recorded as one of five existing hotels in March that year. The others were the Royal, the Excelsior, the Murchison and the Nannine. Mrs Ramsay, hostess of the Murchison was the first woman at the field.
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The original settlement was down in a gulley area between the later town and the mines to the east and north of the town. In 1892
John Forrest, the Commissioner for Crown Lands decided to have lots surveyed and a townsite declared, although
Forrest referred to the place as "Annean", the name of the nearby pastoral station. When the local miners heard the auction of lots was to be in
Perth, eighty five of them petitioned
Forrest to have the auction in
Geraldton. The lots were surveyed in August 1892, and the townsite named Nannine, as "it is situated 10
miles from Annean Station and 3
miles from Nannine Wells", and was also the name of the proposed electoral district and adjacent gold mining lease. Following the survey and the release of the town blocks for purchase, many if not all of the existing premises including the businesses moved to the official townsite. Exactly how rapidly this migration occurred is not known, but it was apparently complete by 1896/7. This may have resulted in some businesses closing down, not wishing to make the move to rated land. By 1919 the town was in deep decline.
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Some other facts.
A
Police Station was built in 1896. The station was closed in January 1922 and the building removed to
Yalgoo sometime that year.
Downie & Murphy are listed as hotel and Storekeepers in the 1894 postal directory. This is assumed to be the Pioneer Hotel as Downie had shifted his earlier hotel from the old townsite and was running the business as the Pioneer hotel on McPherson Street in the gazetted town in 1896/7. He had presumably retained the business name from the previous site. David Downie's entry in the 1897 postal directory links him with the Pioneer Hotel and store. It is not known whether these were distinct premises. It was one of four hotels trading in 1898
The Reverend Gilbert Harding opened a school alongside his residence in March 1906.
The last meeting of the Nannine Road Board was held in January 1930.
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