Peak Hill | |
|---|---|
  Peak Hill | |
 | |
| Coordinates: 25°38′00″S118°43′00″E / 25.63333°S 118.71667°E | |
| Country | Australia |
| State | Western Australia |
| LGA | |
| Location |
|
| Established | 1897 |
| Government | |
| • State electorate | |
| • Federal division | |
| Area | |
• Total | 26,524.1 km2 (10,241.0 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 608 m (1,995 ft) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 121 (SAL 2021) [1] |
| Postcode | 6642 |
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: 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 tonnes) 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 tonnes) of gold. [4] The mine became dormant again in the 2000s.
