About the Goldfields District
The following towns and communities have schools serviced by the District Office. They are divided into Town Cell communities (listed below), North Country communities, Ngaanyatjarra Lands communities and Abandoned or ‘Ghost’ Towns where town sites once flourished but are now abandoned. The places have been ordered to represent a timeline of prolonged contact with Aboriginal people as the townships, stations and communities were established.
Town Cell communities
SOUTHERN CROSS
Although Southern Cross was gazetted as a township in 1888, Aboriginal people in the area had encountered non-Aboriginal people earlier. In 1880 pastoralists were viewing the land for farming. It was named by Tom Risely and Mick Toomey, after the stars. It is reported that the party the two men were with desperately needed water as their supply was low. An Aboriginal whom they called ‘Wheelbarrow’ told them who knew where there was water. Risely, Toomey, and Wheelbarrow left in search of the water but when they arrived at the place, it was dry. Due to the temperatures, Risely and Toomey decided to travel back to the party in the cool of the night. It is not known what happened to Wheelbarrow. As the men were not to sure of the way back they used the stars of the “Southern Cross” to guide them.
Southern Cross is a major town in the Yilgarn Shire and is located 369 km from Perth and 190 kilometres east of Coolgardie, the closest Goldfields town. Yilgarn is the Aboriginal word for ‘white rock’ or quartz. Traditional Aboriginal groups in and around this area include Ballardong, Gubrun and Kalamaia Kabu. Karalee Dam and Baladje Rock are two of the interesting places visited by locals and tourists.
COOLGARDIE
Coolgardie was gazetted as a townsite in 1893. It is one of the major towns in the goldfields of Western Australia, and is located 510 kilometres east of Perth. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word of uncertain meaning. Different sources give it as meaning ‘a rock hole surrounded by mulga trees’ (the Aboriginal name for a mulga tree is Koolgoor); from ‘coolgabbi’ meaning a tree near a waterhole; or after the large Bungarra, pronounced ‘Coorgardie’ by the local Aboriginal people. It is claimed Warden John Finnerty was the first to record the name, having asked local Aboriginal people the name of the place. The name was difficult to spell, and what some claim is ‘Golgardie’, was spelt by Finnerty as ‘Coolgardie’. Gubrun, Maduwongga, Widji, and Kalamaia Kabu are reported to be from this area.
KALGOORLIE-BOULDER
Kalgoorlie was gazetted as a townsite in 1894 after a rich deposit of gold was found in 1893. A rock hole in Williamstown, Kalgoorlie, was a traditional water resource for the Aboriginal people in the area. The rock hole is an essential part of the Kulgooluh Dreaming. The Kulgooluh is an edible fruit which grows locally throughout the Goldfields and is popular amongst the Aboriginal people. Kulgooluh is the name from which Kalgoorlie derives its name. Boulder, which is adjacent to Kalgoorlie, was gazetted as a townsite in 1896. In the more recent past the towns together have become known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, a major city in the eastern goldfields region. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is located 596 km east north east of Perth. The main traditional Aboriginal groups in this area are Gubrun, Maduwongga and Kalamaia Kabu. Many Aboriginal people from all around Australia have made Kalgoorlie their home.
KAMBALDA
The townsite of Kambalda is located in the eastern goldfields region, about 60 km south of Kalgoorlie. It was gazetted in 1897. Prior to European settlement the Kambalda area was known to be within the traditional tribal lands of the Galangu people. Other traditional groups with common interests in this area are Gubrun, Widji and Kalamaia Kabu.
YINTARRI
Yintarri Remote Community School is located near Coonan Station. The community became established after Cundeelee Mission closed. The school is an integral part of Coonana community which is situated on a 250,000 acre pastoral lease approximately 160km east of Kalgoorlie and 4 km south of the Trans-Australia railway line on the edge of the Nullabor. The population is estimated between 90 and 120 (300 in 1994). The language spoken by the people is Pitjarrtjatjara or Wankatj dialect.
TJUNTJUNTJARA
Tjuntjuntjara Community was established in the late 1980s after a core group of senior traditional people from Cundeelee Mission (which was being closed) led members back into tribal lands to the north rather than settle in a newly established community nearby at Coonana station. After staging from a temporary camp at Yakadunya the community was ultimately located near the soak known as Tjuntjuntjara, 700 km north-east of Kalgoorlie in the southern portion of lands traditionally owned by the Spinifex People. Tjuntjuntjara has a regular population of around 150 people although cultural events have attracted several hundred visitors at one time. All assets are held by the incorporated body and the community is governed a local Council. All major decisions are taken before the community.
During the Maralinga nuclear tests in the 1950s and 60s the Spinifex people were moved from their lands into Cundeelee Mission, off the train line near Zanthus. The movement back into country of the late 1980s was a determined and focused effort by the old people to insist on traditional strengths as the primary basis for the community’s future.
Since establishing a secure living area within traditional lands at Tjuntjuntjara the community has steadily grown and developed into a stable and important focus for the regional cultural cycles of Western Desert life. As the community has been established, people from throughout the region with traditional attachment to the area have returned to live at Tjuntjuntjara. Although the isolation and lack of infrastructure are features of life out near the WA/SA border, the Spinifex people’s determination has served to highlight the importance and stability of a strong traditional community within the region.