The Eastern Goldfields is part of the Western Australian Goldfields in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, covering the present and former gold-mining area east of Perth.
The region encompasses the towns of Kalgoorlie, Boulder, Coolgardie, Kambalda, Southern Cross and other smaller settlements within this area. The name is derived in two parts: Eastern in relation to its location from Perth, and Goldfields as the name suggests comes from the mining of gold in the region.[citation needed]
In the 1980s, a series of surveys were reported for the broader region.[1]
The component areas were designated:
- Lake Johnston - Hyden[2]
- Edjudina - Menzies[3]
- Youanmi - Leonora[4]
- Duketon - Sir Samuel[5]
- Kurnalpi - Kalgoorlie[6]
- Norseman - Balladonia[7]
- Sandston - Sir Samuel and Leonora - Laverton[8]
- Boorabbin - Southern Cross and Barlee - Menzies[9]
The region was the destination of the long-running Westland overnight railway sleeper train run by Western Australian Government Railways; for decades this was the main means of travelling to the "coast" or metropolitan Perth. The Prospector is now the main railway service into this area.[10]
It was the region of inspiration for a group of writers - Gavin Casey, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Henrietta Drake Brockman and others. It has been an important cultural region as far as labour history and Australian political history, with a rich worker and trade union history.
The history of the goldfields region also developed into a significant number of publications over time.[11][12][13][14][15]
Newby, K. R; Western Australian Museum; Western Australia. Biological Surveys Committee (1984), The Biological survey of the eastern goldfields of Western Australia, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7244-9972-4 How, R. A; Western Australian Museum; How, R (1988), The Biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Part 4, Lake Johnston - Hyden study area, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7309-2111-0 Dell, John; Western Australian Museum (1988), The Biological survey of the eastern goldfields of Western Australia. Part 5, Edjudina - Menzies study area, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7244-9970-0 How, R. A; Dell, J; Milewski, A. V; Western Australian Museum (1992), The Biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Part 6, Youanmi - Leonora study area. Part 7, Duketon - Sir Samuel study area, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7309-4651-9 How, R. A; Dell, J; Milewski, A. V; Western Australian Museum (1992), The Biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Part 6, Youanmi - Leonora study area. Part 7, Duketon - Sir Samuel study area, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7309-4651-9 McKenzie, N. L; Hall, N. J; Milewski, A. V. (Antoni Vincent); Western Australian Museum; Keighery, G; McKenzie, N; Milewski, A; Rolfe, J; Hall, N (1984), The Biological survey of the eastern goldfields of Western Australia. Part 8, Kurnalpi-Kalgoorlie study area, Publications Dept., Western Australian Museum (published 1992), ISBN 978-0-7309-5401-9 McKenzie, N. L; Hall, N. J; Western Australian Museum; Keighery, G; McKenzie, N; Rolfe, J; Western Australian Museum; Hall, N (1984), The biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia : Part 9. Norseman - Balladonia study area, Western Australian Museum (published 1993), ISBN 978-0-7309-5420-0 Keighery, G. J; McKenzie, N. L; Hall, N. J; Western Australian Museum; Keighery, G; McKenzie, N; Rolfe, J; Hall, N (1994), The biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Part 10, Sandstone - Sir Samuel and Laverton - Leonora study areas, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7309-5584-9 Keighery, G. J; McKenzie, N. L; Hall, N. J; Western Australian Museum; Burbidge, Andrew A; Keighery, G; McKenzie, N; Fuller, P; Rolfe, J; Hall, N (1995), The Biological survey of the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Part 11, Boorabbin - Southern Cross study area. Part 12, Barlee - Menzies study area, Western Australian Museum, ISBN 978-0-7309-5988-5 100th anniversary of rail link (History of the Eastern Goldfields railway, officially completed on 1 January 1897, to the present, including introduction of the Prospector train on 29 November 1971) Kalgoorlie Miner 1 Jan. 1997, p. 2 Casey, Gavin; Mayman, Ted, 1912- (1968), The Mile that Midas touched (Revised ed.), Rigby (published 1964), ISBN 978-0-85179-611-6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Webb, Martyn J. (Martyn Jack); Webb, Audrey; Kalgoorlie-Boulder (W.A.). Council; Webb, Martyn; Webb, Audrey (1993), Golden destiny : the centenary history of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, Published by the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder as a contribution to the centenary celebration of 1993, ISBN 978-0-646-14254-8 Templeman, Ian; McDonald, Bernadette; Fremantle Arts Centre (1988), The fields : the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie goldfields, 1892-1912, Fremantle Arts Centre Press , 1988, ISBN 978-0-949206-39-8
