Peak Hill, Western Australia

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Peak Hill
Western Australia
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Peak Hill
Peak Hill, Western Australia
Coordinates 25°38′00″S118°43′00″E / 25.63333°S 118.71667°E / -25.63333; 118.71667
Population121 (SAL 2021) [1]
Established1897
Postcode(s) 6642
Elevation608 m (1,995 ft)
Area26,524.1 km2 (10,241.0 sq mi)
Location
LGA(s) Shire of Meekatharra
State electorate(s) North West
Federal division(s) Durack

Peak Hill is the name of a goldfield, [2] locality and the site of a gold mining [3] ghost town in the Murchison Region of Western Australia. The gold mine covers 2,162 hectares and consists of four open-cut mines, titled: Main, Jubilee, Fiveways and Harmony. [4]

In the adjacent region to the locality, there are considerable non-auriferous mineral deposits. [5] Adjacent fields included the Horseshoe field. [6]

Early exploration at the site occurred in the 1890s, [7] [8] when gold was discovered by William John Wilson in 1892. [9] The townsite was gazetted in 1897, [9] and the field has had varied fortunes even in early years. [10] [11] Before 1913, the mine produced some 270,000 ounces (7.7 metric tons) of gold. [4] Peak Hill was also included as a location in a regional newspaper network of more outlying mining communities in the 1920s and 1930s. [12]

The population of the town was 190 (180 males and 10 females) in 1898. [13]

Alfred Walker, the proprietor of the Peak Hill General Store until 1954, was the last full-time resident of Peak Hill. He retired to his daughter's farm at Peppermint Grove, south of Capel.

In the 1970s, it was reduced to a ghost town with a few remaining residents, however in the 1980s activity resumed, [14] [15] producing around 650,000 ounces (18.4 metric tons) of gold. [4] The mine became dormant again in the 2000s.

Horseshoe mine and railway

The Meekatharra-Horseshoe Railway Act 1920, assented to on 31 December 1920, authorised the construction of the railway line from Meekatharra, where it intersected the Mullewa–Meekatharra railway, to the Horseshoe mine, north-west of Peak Hill. [16] The private 85-mile-long (137 km) railway was short-lived, existing from 1927 until 1933, when the company mining manganese went into receivership. [17] [18]

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References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Peak Hill (WA) (suburb and locality)". Australian Census 2021 QuickStats. Retrieved 28 June 2022.  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. ↑ Clarke, E. de C.(1913) Geological report on Mikhaburra (Holden's Find), Peak Hill goldfield. Bulletin (Geological Survey of Western Australia), No. 59, 1914, Report 37
  3. ↑ Heydon, P. R. (1991) Gold at Peak Hill Carlisle, W.A : Hesperian Press, ISBN   0-85905-153-6
  4. 1 2 3 Wragg, Ralph (1 August 2007). "Montezuma to buy Peak Hill gold mine". Australian Business News.
  5. ↑ Montgomery, A. (1920) Report on the manganese deposits at Horseshoe Range, Peak Hill Goldfield Perth, W.A. Dept. of Mines, 1920 (Perth [W.A.]: Fred. Wm. Simpson, Government Printer
  6. ↑ Stewart, Duke (1897) The Peak Hill Goldfield. Stewart (cycling through the district compiling a goldfields directory) reports on gold specimens from the Horseshoe and Peak Hill districts. West Australian, 23 November 1897, p.6
  7. ↑ (1970) The biography of William John Wilson : discoverer of the Peak Hill Goldfields, Western Australia; and, Early history of Peak Hill / compiled by ... Freda and ... Arnold Armstrong and ... Laurence Wilson.Battye Library typescript
  8. ↑ Reed, Frank. (1897) The Peak Hill Goldfields. West Australian, 17 April 1897, p.10
  9. 1 2 "History of country town names – P". Western Australian Land Information Authority. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2008.
  10. ↑ Peak Hill. Article in a series titled: Is the Murchison a failure? Murchison times and Day Dawn gazette, 18 Feb. 1899, p.2f-g
  11. ↑ Armstrong, Freda. (1940s) Early Murchison days : the discovery of Peak Hill : some rich returns Battye Library document - PR5868 originally in Geraldton Guardian.
  12. ↑ The manganese record, Peak Hill, Nullagine and Marble Bar Gazette. Meekatharra [W.A.] : Telegraph Printing and Publishing Company Ltd., 1928-1941. 22 Sept. 1928-11 July 1941. it was preceded by The Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette. Cue [W.A.] : Murchison Times and Day Dawn Gazette, 1894-1925. Distribution area: Cue; Day Dawn; Murchison; Peak Hill Goldfields.
  13. ↑ "POPULATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA". Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954) . Perth, WA: National Library of Australia. 22 April 1898. p. 23. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
  14. ↑ (1988) Mining activity to resume at old gold mining site.Daily news (Perth, W.A.), 1 July 1988, p.17
  15. ↑ (1988) Peak Hill Resources Gold Mine - description of mine opened July 1988 in Murchison Australia's mining monthly, Aug. 1988, p.19,
  16. ↑ "Meekatharra-Horseshoe Railway Act 1920". www.legislation.wa.gov.au. Government of Western Australia. 23 December 1927. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "Peak Hill". inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au. Heritage Council of Western Australia. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  18. ↑ "Horseshoe Manganese Deposits - Building the new railway", Geraldton Guardian , 16 June 1927, retrieved 31 July 2024
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