We drove through the deserted mining town of Gwalia as the sun was setting and parked the camper van in the museum car park, next to the open cut mine that operates around the clock. The twinkling lights and faint rhythmic noises of machinery working through the night put me in mind of a science fiction movie – it was beautiful and eery. With our backs to the mine, we could see the lights of the Leonora township twinkling nearby, to the north east, behind the outline of the deserted buildings in the Gwalia townsite. The night was clear and very cold.
The sunrise was wonderful.
.jpg "Gwalia Sunrise Glow")
.jpg "Gwalia Sunrise")
Sunrise over the head frame.
.jpg "Sunrise Over Head frame")
Gwalia goldmine
.jpg "Gwalia Gold Mine")
.jpg "Gwalia Gold Mine (exit road with truck)")
Old mine administration building on the edge of the modern open pit mine.
.jpg "Gwalia Gold Mine & Museum Building")
Hoover House
Designed by the mine’s first manager, a young American mining engineer named Herbert Hoover, who later became the 31st President of the United States, the house is now used as a bed and breakfast in the museum complex, surrounded by old cars and trucks, machinery and mining equipment.
.jpg "Old Truck, Hoover House, Gwalia")
.jpg "Chevrolet, Gwalia Museum")
Sturt Desert Pea
.jpg "Sturt Desert Pea at Hoover House")
.jpg "Sturt Desert Pea")
