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If all that is said about the gold discoveries made by George Woodley is true, then he should be more famous than Hannan, Ford, Bayley and Hall all put together.
George came to Australia from England as a child and little is known about his early life except that he worked in the pastoral industry moving mobs of sheep
through the Gascoyne and Pilbara.
Later in life he decided to go prospecting for gold and if his claims are true, then he was either very good at finding gold or very lucky. The ability to
find gold deposits does not seem to have been matched by an ability to make money out of the finds as when he died alone in the outback aged 87, George
had very little to show for all he had discovered.
History is sometimes rather forgetful and perhaps because George found gold that other people then exploited, he has received little or no credit for the
discoveries.
It has been reported that George found gold in the following areas (some like Mt. Magnet he is credited with opening up himself) : Mt. Magnet, a field
north of Cue, Nannine, Pingelling, Mt. Monger, Yalgoo, Yuin, Montague Range, Rothsay, Mt. Singleton, Fields Find and Youanmi.
In 1928 George was prospecting with a mate on the Murchison when a huge flood came down. His mate was drowned and George was lucky to survive.
In 1936 he was still prospecting in the lower Murchison aged 87 and it was here he died sometime between April 1936 (when he was last known to be seen)
and May 1937 when his passing was reported in the press.
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