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Kanowna is a goldfields ghost town that once boasted a
population of 12,000 with no fewer than 16 hotels and 2 breweries. There is
little left to mark the place where the town once stood.
First known as White Feather, the later name is thought to come from the
Aboriginal 'gha na na' which means place of no sleep and refers to the rocky
ground which is unsuited to a good campsite. It has also been suggested that the
name originates with Kanowna Station on Cooper’s Creek in South Australia.
Gold was first discovered here in 1893 but alluvial gold ran out quickly and
miners concentrated on sinking shafts in the area. Slowly the gold began to run
out and in July 1898 an attempt by a local priest (Father Long) to stop miners
drifting away from the town by claiming he had seen a 100 pound nugget came
close to causing a riot when the miners found that it was untrue. From accounts
at the time it seems that Father Long was duped into making the statement by
local businessmen who were trying to stop miners drifting away from the town.
Father Long was beset by guilt over the incident and he died a few months later
aged only 27. It was also noted that those suspected of instigating the hoax all
‘came to a bad end’.
(Another source says that the 'sacred nugget' as it became
known was just a practical joke that went too far. The two jokesters had painted
the broken curved arm of a cam with gold paint.)
One miner, Thomas O'Connor, found gold next to the town cemetery and soon even
the cemetery itself had been pegged claims on it.
By 1956 the town was no more. The site of the town lie 18km north east of
Kalgoorlie - but there is nothing left to look at.
Tall tales & true: Sophisticated Tom
Tom Doyle was a publican in Kanowna and although quite rich was somewhat
unsophisticated. When he took his new bride on honeymoon to Melbourne he was
asked by the Manager if he required the bridal chamber. Tom replied that his new
wife may require the chamber but he was happy to ‘piss out the window’.
Back home in Kanowna a dignitary was making a speech when Tom encountered olives
in vinegar for the first time. In the middle of the speech Tom jumped up and
shouted out that ‘someone has pissed in the gooseberries.’
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