(C) Don Copley

ORA BANDA

HEMA Map reference 77/H10

30° 22' 31" S 121° 03' 42" E

Statistics

Caravan Parks

Ora Banda              08 9024 2059

Attractions

Unknown

Buildings of note

Unknown

Calendar of events

Unknown

(C) gladysclancy

Description

A gold mining town whose fortunes have fluctuated with the price of gold. The name is said to be Spanish in origin and means bands of gold.

T.J. Cahsman and George See are credited with being the first miners in the area and found gold at the Forty Mile Bank. Within the first few weeks they had collected over 1000 ounces.

The Ora Banda Mine was established by the Weston brothers and the mine operated for about 80 years with only a couple of short breaks for ‘minor’ things like wars and lack of water.
 

Pressure for the declaration of a town site began in 1909 but it was 1911 before a survey of lots was conducted and 1912 before the town site was gazetted.

As the gold ran out the town closed down, but in the 1980s mining started up again and the town came back to life. The local hotel has been restored and the State gold battery has been in operation.
 

The local tavern was originally built by Alfred E. Garnett in 1911. The hotel closed in the 1950s but in 1981 Albertus Klaassen began work of restoring the building which was then re-opened as a tavern.

The Ora Banda tavern was the scene of a fatal shooting of a biker in October 2000. This was blamed on ex-CID chief, Don Hancock, the owner of the tavern at the time. The pub was bombed twice and the Hancock family moved to Perth.

In September 2001 Don Hancock was blown up and killed in what looked like a pay-back attack. Barry and Anne Foote purchased the tavern and re-opened it in 2002.

The last information we have is that it closed again and was for sale in 2005 and must have been purchased and re-opened as there is a website detailing events there in 2011.

(C) gladysclancy