Leonora main street

 

 

LEONORA

 

GPS 28 52 56 S 121 19 44 E

 

 

 

 

FIND ACCOMMODATION

 

Leinster

Nearby Towns

Laverton

Menzies

Gwalia

 

 

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STATISTICS

Distance from Perth

 833 Km

Population

1300

Average Rainfall

226mm

Mean Max Temp

27.9C

Mean Min Temp

13.8C

 

SERVICES

Police

08 9037 6100

Fire and Rescue

08 9037 6354

Medical

08 9037 6000

Visitor Centre

08 9037 7016

 

CARAVAN PARKS

Leonora

08 9037 6568

 

HOTEL / MOTEL

Central Hotel

08 9037 6042

Hoover House

08 9037 7122

Leonora Lodge

08 9037 7053

Motor Inn

08 9037 6444

Villas

08 9037 6400

White House Hotel

08 9037 6030

 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

 

 

 

 

DESCRIPTION

 

According to census figures, Leonora has the highest number of single person households in the state. It is also a good place for single ladies to find single men as 900 of the 1300 residents are men.

Leonora, usually as 'dry as a bone' is sometimes hit by cyclonic rains. These events have happened a number of times since the area was settled with one of the worst being Cyclone Bobby in 1995 which produced a flood that cut the town off for 6 weeks. The only supplies to reach the town were dropped at Laverton by the RAAF and then trucked to Leonora on the only passable access road. Flooding like this seems to happen about once every 20 years.

The town is reasonably well equipped with two hotels, a motel, supermarket, butcher, newsagent/liquor/hardware and general store, post office, two roadhouses and cafe.

A good bush camping site is available at Malcolm Dam. This is likely to be a dry-weather only site.

 

HISTORY

 

The first gold find in the area is credited to a man named Morrissey (1894) but better finds were made in 1896 and the original town (known as Gwalia) flourished until 1898. After flooding it was relocated in 1900, 3km from the mine and re-named Leonora. The town was developed to support the Sons of Gwalia (Wales) mine that operated until 1964. The mine was later re-opened in 1981 as the price of gold increased.

The Sons of Gwalia gold deposit was discovered in about April 1896 by the prospectors Carlson, White and Glendinning.

This was only one of a number of finds in the Leonora district in that year, but was to prove the most significant.

The Great Tower Hill mine began operating after a gold discovery by Jim Breen in July 1896.

Initially it did well and eventually produced 18,000 oz's of gold but then the gold suddenly ran out and it ceased operation by 1908.

The old mining settlement at Gwalia still exists as a museum town. It is a fascinating place to visit.

Edward "Doodah" Sullivan (from South Africa) and his partner Harry Widdick pegged the first gold lease in the Leonora area in 1896, naming it the Johannesburg Lease.

Other leases were soon pegged and a settlement of hessian and timber shanties grew up rapidly. In December 1896 Warden Owen approved the establishment of the Leonora townsite. (One source says Leonora was gazetted in 1898.)

The town's name comes from Mount Leonora which was named by John Forrest. It is thought that Forrest named the hill in honour of his neice Miss Phylis Leonora Hardey of Grove Farm near Perth. Some sources quote the name Frances Leonora Hardey and we are unable to determine which one is correct.

More substantial buildings were soon constructed and a butcher's shop, bank and post office were established in 1897. The Exchange Hotel was transported from Fremantle in prefabricated sections.

By 1899 there were three hotels, three bakeries and a variety of shops. Police and fire stations, a school and the Wesleyan church soon followed.

Cobb & Co stage coach service to Coolgardie also began operating.

The weekly newspaper, the Mount Leonora Miner was established on the 8th of July 1899 and was to become the longest-running newspaper in the region apart from the Kalgoorlie Miner.

Leonora was surprisingly well catered for as there was also a cordial factory, mechanics' institute, a race course and a State battery to crush the mined ore.

When the population reached about 1,000 people, Leonora was proclaimed a municipality in 1900.

By 1901 Leonora was connected by a steam tram to Gwalia. The service was converted to electric in November 1908 and was the first electric tram service in the state.

When the power station burned down the tram service was converted to petrol in 1915 and continued to operate until 1921.

In 1902 the town was linked to Perth by rail via Menzies.

In the book Twentieth Century Impressions of W.A. written in 1901 it states:

"...hotels and different large business establishments have a most imposing appearance, being constructed mostly of brick. Other buildings are composed of adobe, and although somewhat sombre in their colour, have the merit of being substantial."

In 1908 The Bulletin described Leonora as the nation's most progressive town.

Many early buildings still stand today, including the Grand Hotel in Tower Street with its magnificent façade. The hotel was constructed in 1900 and featured two kitchens and a large stone-lined cellar. Another impressive Tower Street building, The Barnes Federal Theatre, opened in 1901 with capacity for 1,000 people and was known as the best hall of its size outside Perth.

The first Mayor of Leonora (William Albert Snell) rode a bicycle across the Nullarbor to Melbourne in 1897. He accomplished this feat in just 26 days and was only the second person to cross this way. One source says that he had gone east to meet his bride to be and after arranging her passage by sea he seems to have hopped back on his bike and rode all the way across again meeting his bride in Fremantle. Sadly William's death was a lonely one in the outback north of Wiluna in 1942.

In 1996 a project was started to restore some of the old miner's cottages at Gwalia. The buildings are available now for tourists to wander through and see what living conditions were like for miners in the early days.

Drinking water in the area has traditionally been high in salt and nitrate. In 2005 a reverse osmosis treatment plant was opened in order to improve water quality. The treatment plant has the capacity to supply 2.5 million litres a day.

In 2010 a mining workers hostel was converted into an immigration detention centre. This was not long lived and closed in 2014.

 

TALL TALES AND TRUE

 

Nuclear explosion, earthquake or meteor?

 

180km north east of Leonora is Banjawarn Station, a 1 million acre property on the edge of the desert.

 

On May 28th 1993 a seismic event was recorded in this area that coincided with reports of a fireball in the sky. The disturbance was 170 times larger than any man made explosion recorded in Australia.

 

It transpired that the station had been purchased in 1993 by the doomsday cult, Aum Shinrikyo; infamous for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. Later investigation found that sheep on the property had been exposed to sarin gas and that traces still remained in the soil. There seems little doubt that the station had been used to experiment and prepare for the attack on Tokyo.

 

There was speculation that the fireball and seismic disturbance may have been the first atomic explosion carried out by non-government forces, in this case by an extreme terrorist group. Aum Shinrikyo were known to have recruited two Russian nuclear scientists and had been involved with mining uranium (there is a deposit on the station) so it is not too far a stretch to imagine that they may have attempted to set off a nuclear explosion.

 

Other explanations for this event have included a meteor bursting apart in the atmosphere (as there is no evidence of a ground strike) or an earthquake of around 3.6 magnitude.

 

Any investigation into the event was not carried out until years after it had happened so no definitive answer has ever been found.

 

Read more about the Aum presence in W.A. at A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo

 

MAP

 

 

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OTHER INFORMATION

 

ATTRACTIONS

 

Mt Leonora, Tower Street, Malcolm Dam, Smoodgers Hill, Gwalia historical museum.

 

BUILDINGS OF NOTE

 

Former Grand Hotel 1900, White House hotel 1900, Post office 1900, State hotel 1903, Former mines office 1898, Mine superintendent's house 1898, Winder and head frame 1898-1912, The old police station 1903, Courthouse 1903, Masonic Lodge, Old fire station 1903, National and WA Bank, Anzac War memorial.

 

ELECTORAL ZONES

 

State : Kalgoorlie

Federal : O'Connor

 

OTHER INFO.

 

Postcode : 6438

Local Government : Shire of Leonora

 

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