Yundamindera, Western Australia
Encyclopedia
Yundamindera, also once known as The Granites, is an abandoned
town located between Leonora
and Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
Gold
was discovered in the area in the late 1897 after gold at the nearby field of Pennyweight Point began to run out. Two prospector
s named Wood and his nephew Deimal found gold near the Granites and following an influx of prospectors and miners declaration of a townsite was deemed necessary by 1901. The townsite was gazetted later the same year. The goldfield warden proposed the name Yundamindera which he had told the locals was the Aboriginal name for the area. The meaning of the name is unknown.
Some of the mines that were established in 1899 were the Great Bonaparte, the Queen of the Msy and the Golden Treasure South. Water for the town was sourced from nearby well
s and soak
s. A coach service ran once a week in 1908 from Coolgardie
via Menzies
to the town. By 1903 a coach ran twice a week to Murrin Murrin
.
A government subsidised battery
was constructed near the town in 1903 and was still operating in the area by 1919 and crushed packets of ore
for most of the mines in the locale.
Ghost town
A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...
town located between Leonora
Leonora, Western Australia
Leonora is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located northeast of the state capital, Perth, and north of the city of Kalgoorlie. At the 2006 census, Leonora had a population of 401, about a third of whom are of Aboriginal descent. The area is extremely arid, with a...
and Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
was discovered in the area in the late 1897 after gold at the nearby field of Pennyweight Point began to run out. Two prospector
Prospector
Prospector may mean:*Prospecting, exploring an area for natural resources such as minerals, oil, flora or fauna*Prospector , a unified catalog for Colorado and Wyoming...
s named Wood and his nephew Deimal found gold near the Granites and following an influx of prospectors and miners declaration of a townsite was deemed necessary by 1901. The townsite was gazetted later the same year. The goldfield warden proposed the name Yundamindera which he had told the locals was the Aboriginal name for the area. The meaning of the name is unknown.
Some of the mines that were established in 1899 were the Great Bonaparte, the Queen of the Msy and the Golden Treasure South. Water for the town was sourced from nearby well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s and soak
Soakage
A soakage, or soak, is a source of water in Australian deserts.It is called thus because the water generally seeps into the sand, and is stored below, sometimes as part of an ephemeral river or creek system.-Aboriginal water source:...
s. A coach service ran once a week in 1908 from Coolgardie
Coolgardie, Western Australia
Coolgardie is a small town in the Australian state of Western Australia, east of the state capital, Perth. It has a population of approximately 800 people....
via Menzies
Menzies, Western Australia
Menzies is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, east-northeast of the state capital, Perth, and north-northwest of the city of Kalgoorlie...
to the town. By 1903 a coach ran twice a week to Murrin Murrin
Murrin Murrin, Western Australia
Murrin Murrin is an abandoned town in Western Australia located east of Perth situated along the Old Laverton Road in between Leonora and Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia....
.
A government subsidised battery
Stamp mill
A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation....
was constructed near the town in 1903 and was still operating in the area by 1919 and crushed packets of ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
for most of the mines in the locale.