dissemination of mining information. Mr. Marmion still had the supervision of this department. Late in the year the work enormously increased, and in December a Minister for Mines was appointed. Mr. E. H. Wittenoom, M.L.C, undertook the control, and, despite tremendous difficulties, he has filled the office tactfully and successfully.
Among the first changes in the management of the eastern fields was the subdivision of the Yilgarn district. On 5th April, 1894, the Coolgardie Goldfield was declared, and the boundaries of the Yilgarn and Dundas fields were amended. Thus, in place of one, and then two wardens for the eastern mineral area, there were now three—one at Southern Cross, one at Dundas, and one at Coolgardie. Mr. J.M. Finnerty left Southern Cross and became warden of the more important Coolgardie Goldfield. Dr. V. Black was appointed warden at Southern Cross, and Mr. A. S. Hicks assumed the duties at Dundas. A Local Court was constituted at Coolgardie on 13th April. Later in the year the area of the Coolgardie Goldfield had so expanded by reason of further discoveries that a new district was proclaimed on 19th September, under the name of the East Coolgardie Goldfield, with Kalgoorlie as its centre. Mr. M.H. Jephson became the first Warden of East Coolgardie. In June there were four Courts on the Murchison—at Cue, Nannine, Austin Island, and Mount Magnet; there were three at Pilbarra—Marble Bar, Bamboo Creek, and Nullagine; and one at Kimberley—Hall's Creek. Wardens' Courts were declared at Kalgoorlie, Kurnalpi, and Goongarrie (Ninety Mile) on 12th September.
The calls upon Mr. Woodward, the Government Geologist, had become so numerous that early in 1894 Mr. S. Göczel was appointed Assistant Government Geologist.
On 1st August Esperance Bay was proclaimed a port of entry. In geographical position it was the port to the Dundas Goldfield. On the previous 15th December the town of Esperance was declared.
The Northam and Southern Cross Railway, so courageously projected by the Forrest Government in 1891, was opened to traffic on 1st July, 1894. All doubts which existed when the bill was before Parliament were now gone, and the bold policy of Sir John Forrest had turned out to be successful to a peculiar degree. In 1891 the Yilgarn district had only about five mines which were developed to any extent, and the goldfield area was small and not altogether phenomenally rich. The population of the goldfield was not then more than three or four hundred souls. It would seem as if the Premier had been gifted with prescient insight, for no more beneficent policy could possibly have been projected. While the railway was building astonishing discoveries had led to the proclamation of a mineral area of about 105,000 square miles, and to the concentration of a population of several thousand persons beyond Southern Cross. The happy inspiration which suggested this railway was calculated, in its materialisation, to give a wonderful spur to mining development. The length of the line was 170 miles, and the contract was let to Mr. J. McDowell, on 7th September, 1892, for £148,137 7s. 1d. The work was completed within five months of the contract time. The line as it gradually drew near to Southern Cross—the gate of the gold region—had proved of service to incoming prospectors, many of whom were able to obtain railway passage over each part of the route as work was completed. The formation was of an easy character throughout, without heavy banks or cuttings. There are 35 bridges and 506 culverts on the line, and the steepest grade is 1 in 60. The districts tapped are Grass Valley (ten miles from Northam), Meckering (twenty-three miles), Cunderdin (thirty-seven miles), Tammin (fifty-two miles), Kellerberrin (sixty-six miles), Doodlekine (seventy-six miles), Hine's Hill (eighty-nine miles, Merredin (102 miles), Burracoppin (116 miles), Twenty-five Mile Rocks (139 miles), and Parker's Road (156 miles).
Sir John Forrest's Cabinet determined to continue the railway through the desert to Coolgardie. The calls for the extension were even more imperative than were those for the line to Southern Cross in 1891. In November, 1894, Parliament sanctioned a bill providing for the new railway, and this important work was begun in 1895. By such means as these the Government and Parliament were seeking to foster the goldfields to their utmost. Extensive public works were being carried out in other parts of the colony, and in 1893 a Loan Bill for £540,000 was authorised for the completion of public works already under construction, and for other improvement and development purposes. In 1894 another Loan Bill was carried,on this occasion for £1,500,000, principally for the construction of railways to the gold fields, the development of goldfields, and for the Fremantle Harbour Scheme. Perth, Southern Cross, Coolgardie, and Kalgoorlie were connected by telegraph in 1894.
By this time a composite population had settled at Coolgardie, and also, in a lesser degree as yet, at Kalgoorlie. Representatives of nearly every trade and profession had gathered in the mining camp near Bayley's Reward claim, and a large town soon sprang up. On 25th August, 1893, the Coolgardie township was declared. The site was surveyed in wide streets, and upon the frontages brick, iron, and wooden houses were built. The sections are 10 x 5 chains, and the allotments each a quarter of an acre. The streets are two chains wide, and derive their names from prominent men—Bayley Street, from the founder of the centre; Hunt and Lindsay Streets, from the explorers; Sylvester Street, from Mr. Sylvester Browne, the mining investor; and Woodward Street, from the Government Geologist. The population was in 1894 sometimes over two and three thousand; but as miners are essentially nomadic the number varied as new discoveries were being made. The health of the town was at first extremely bad. For many months the chief population centred in Bayley Street, which was in places an Augean stable. The intersection of Bayley and Hunt Streets was the general camping ground for teamsters and camels, and in various places lay the decaying debris of the township. The rises and boundaries were also used as camping-grounds, and typhoid fever in the hot months became too frequent. Before a municipality was proclaimed the people formed a Progress Committee of leading residents; and although this body had no official existence it yet did excellent service in seeing that sanitary rules were obeyed. The Committee, on behalf of the centre, petitioned the Government that Coolgardie might be proclaimed a municipality. On 4th July, 1894, two years after Bayley's first discovery, the municipality was proclaimed. Although the municipal year did not begin until the 1st December, the exigencies of the time caused the ratepayers to hold an election immediately. The first Council was composed of Messrs. James Shaw (mayor), A.W. Macdonald, L.P. Askin, A. McKenzie, J. Howard Taylor, A. Leevers, and J.L. Hinde. Mr. J.J. Tucker was the first Town Clerk. The Councillors, and particularly the popular Mayor, applied themselves with restless energy to the work of amelioration. The streets were cleared of all objectionable matter, sanitary laws were applied, and in a short time Coolgardie became a model little town, but, owing to its being practically the centre to all the eastern goldfields, the
