Norseman (wikipedia) is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia along the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway, 726 kilometres (451 mi) east of Perth and 278 metres (912 ft) above sea level. It is also the starting point of the Eyre Highway, and the last major town in Western Australia before the South Australian border 720 kilometres (447 mi) to the east. At the 2006 census, Norseman had a population of 857.

History

Norseman. Today there are a number of small goldmining operations in the area but only the Central Norseman Gold Corporation can be considered a major producer. Gold was first found in the Norseman area in 1892, about 10 km south of the town, near Dundas. The “Dundas Field” was proclaimed in August 1893 and a townsite gazetted there. In August 1894, Lawrence Sinclair, his brother George Sinclair, and Jack Alsopp discovered a rich gold reef which Sinclair named after his horse, Hardy Norseman. The family originally came from the Shetland Isles in December 1863. Laurie’s brother James was working in Esperance as the Post and Telegraphist Master. In January 1895 the mining warden asked the Government to declare a townsite for the 200 or so miners who had arrived. It was gazetted on 22 May. The Aboriginal name for the area is “Jimberlana”. A mining entrepreneur from Melbourne Mr Ernest McCaughan led a party of 13 by Steamship from Melbourne to Esperance to walk inland and discover the central part of the Gold Field. He later went on to develop substantial mining interests in Western Australia and Tasmania. Norseman initially struggled to develop because of the established town of Dundas; but, between 1895 and 1901, a post office, banks, doctor, courthouse, stores and churches were established and, in 1899 Cobb & Co, mail coaches started delivering mail to Norseman. In 1935, Western Mining Corporation came to Norseman and invested significantly in its infrastructure, resulting in new bitumen roads, electricity and an extension of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme to the town. The population of the town was 418 (262 males and 156 females) in 1898.^[5] Once it was the second-richest goldfield in Western Australia, next to the Golden Mile of Kalgoorlie. It is claimed that since 1892, over 100 tonnes of gold have been extracted from the area. The Norseman Gold Mine is Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation. As of 2006, it had been in operation for more than 65 years, producing in excess of 5.5 million ounces of gold in that time.

20^th March, Friday

We didn’t rush out this morning, only 100kms to do to Norseman so an easy drive.  The trees along the way are gorgeous, they are a real copper colour and all the foilage is on the top of the tree, we have never seen them or heard of them before, they are called “Gimlet trees”. We arrived in Norseman too early to book into the caravan park so Ralph popped into the news agent for a newspaper as he hasn’t seen one for a week and I popped into the IGA for a few bits of fresh veg because we haven’t seen that stuff either for a while, we have frozen but we were hanging out for tomatoes, potatoes, onions and mushrooms. We stopped off at the Tourist information centre to get some info and maps for Ralph for his fossicking and then to the dept. of mines and minerals to get some info of where he is allowed to prospect for gold. The town is not particularly exciting and it would seem that the art farty gift stores and art shops have all closed down, so there are only the basic shops left. We are only here for Ralphs prospecting and fossicking otherwise you really could give this town a miss.  I am hoping that we find something exciting to show you.  There is a statue of a horse in town, his claim to fame is unearthing a huge gold nugget which started the town of Norseman. There are some tin statues of some camels so I guess that it’s not true when I say that we haven’t seen any camels along the way HAHA. The caravan park is very nice and we have a lovely shaded spot under some trees and we have TV which is the other thing that we haven’t had in a while, it’s weekend so it’s sport and Ralph is happy. There is a market here tomorrow so that will be quite exciting, love markets.

21^st March, Saturday

We went out and about on a bush bashing trip this morning along a heritage trail which is all part of the old Dundas town and mine sites. The bush is full of old diggings and shafts so you don’t go walk about as you might fall down a shaft (much the same as the goldfields around Kalgoorlie). It’s all fascinating history to see how hard the life was in those times.  We came across a lonely grave of a miner you fell down a shaft in the 1890’s and we are sure that there are many many graves around here which are not marked. We stopped at one spot where there was an old dug gold tunnel going into the ground and there on the tree was a beautiful owl watching us. We came back to town to go the market, all 8 stalls but did manage to get some honey (I had to give ours away before we crossed the border) and some real bread with every single seed that you can think of in it, it’s like a brick (real bread) so I bought 2 loaves and have sliced one up which is in the freezer.  There is no bakery or anything here because I mentioned yesterday, most businesses are no longer operating. We took a picture of our famed camels HAHAHA for you all to see so that you don’t think that I am telling lies. Back to camp and in the aircon for the rest of the day, it’s hot here today, 39 degs. Tomorrow is going to be in the low 20’s so Ralph is going fossicking and I will attempt another painting or maybe just do a painting lesson.

22^nd March, Sunday

A lot cooler this morning, 22 degs, after it reached 40 degs yesterday, it’s windy and drizzly but Ralph still went out fossicking. Hugo and I stayed home and I painted.  Ralph came back quite early with some really nice Agate specimens, one of the pieces has a small fossilised plant in it, so he had an industrious and fruitful morning. I will take some pics of them to post tomorrow. I don’t have much other news to tell you for today.

23^rd March, Monday

Chilly again this morning but a warmer day. Ralph went to look for his illusive gold and YEP, there’s isn’t any here! some-one must have found the lot. Another master piece done and dusted, Eish, I’m going to be rich when we get home and I flog them all, they will be banging the doors down for a Linda original, other than that it was a pretty quite non eventful day.  Washed the van as it was filthy from crossing the Nullarbor, did a few chores etc. etc. The caravan park is pretty empty only 2 van here but it does fill up at nightime with people pulling in for overnighters. I don’t know why it’s so empty because there is lots to see and do here in this huge busy Metropolis.

24th March, Tuesday

Chilly again this morning, 4 degs. Ralph went out for an hour or so to find some more rocks, OOPS, I’m not allowed to call them rocks, I am told that they are gemstones :-).  The rest of the day was spent reading, watching TV and packing up slowly as we leave for Esperance tomorrow morning. We went to the pub for dinner and boy oh boy what a place. Most of the people were local with the odd assortment of construction guys and just us 3 tourists in this non tourist town. The bar maid is something else, quite rude with an attitude of “if you don’t like it, leave”. We waited for 1 ½ hours for our meal and when it came it was cold. There is only one other place to eat and that is at the Best Western motel and they are a bit strange there as well.  There is no take-away in town apart from the crappy greasy stuff at the service station.  I didn’t really feel like cooking the night before we were leaving but in hindsight we would have been better off eating at home and going to bed earlier. Ralph had to pay for the dump point (we are not complaining about paying) and this is the first time in the whole year that we have been away that we have heard about this.  The excuse was that they are not on deep sewage.  No town is on deep sewage and dump points don’t go into the sewage anyway, they are on separate tanks which dispose of the waste, just a revenue raising thing if you ask me. On the Nullarbor there are various dump points along the way, so we don’t get it. Bizarre town.