Name                             

The area was known by many prior names (including Wedgemulla Hill, Woodgiemoola, Wadjiemoultha, Wagemulla, Widjimoultha and Widgiemoultha) before the town of Widgemooltha was gazetted in 1897. The spelling was changed to Widgiemooltha in 1944. The name is Aboriginal in origin and is variously thought to be the name of a hill or nearby rock hole, or related to the beak of an emu.

Discovery                       

After the discovery of gold at Coolgardie in the 1890s prospectors flocked to the region, fanning out by foot in search of their fortune. Gold was soon discovered south of Coolgardie in what is now known as Widgiemooltha.

Early History                

The town grew as more gold was discovered and to aid prospecting a large government dam was constructed. By 1898 the town, on the southern shores of Lake Lefroy, had a population of 100 men and 12 women. However, the town’s prosperity and future were never assured and its fortunes waxed and waned as gold deposits were discovered, mined and exhausted. In 1902 the Kalgoorlie Miner optimistically reported  ”there can be no question that although it may be the prevailing opinion of many that the Widgemooltha field is a thing of the past, the day is at hand when it most certainly will assert itself as one of the best mining districts in the State”.

While never reaching those foreseen heights Widgiemooltha survived its early vicissitudes, aided by the arrival of the railway line in 1908. At this time the townsite was moved to the railway siding about 1.6km southwest of its original location.

From 1900 to 1911 a State Battery for the crushing of ore and extraction of gold operated in the town. However its operation was plagued by a shortage of water, and it was frequently out of action.

By 1909, the town consisted of 2 hotels, a post office, an empty baker’s shop, and some surveyed yet unoccupied residential lots.

In 1920 the Kalgoorlie Sun described Widgiemooltha as “a lively little centre these days, recent good developments having attracted a good many prospectors.”

Gold production tailed off in the 1920s however, but other industries help sustain the town. Salt mining on Lake Lefroy commenced in 1924, and the harvesting of sandalwood was briefly lucrative.

The fact that the town was not seen in Government circles as warranting the building of a school throughout these early days is perhaps significant in the context of how its future was seen from outside. Since the first gazetting of the town there had been no purpose-built school, and children had been taught in various unsuitable rooms and buildings, including an old and almost derelict hotel. A proper school building was often promised by the Government, as early as 1916 and as late as 1946, but after further disappointment in 1947 the locals had lost patience and the following passionate article appeared in the Kalgoorlie Miner:

The Widgiemooltha Prospectors' and Progress Association

desires through the medium of your paper to voice its protest against

the long delay by the Education Department in the erection of the

school at Widgiemooltha. As far back as September, 1946, the

Education Department authorised the removal of a school at Kumarl

for re-erection at Widgiemooltha; tenders were called for, and Mr.

Walsh, of Norseman, was the successful tenderer, who lost no

time in making the transfer. About a month ago the contractor was

forced to cease work on the building, as the Public Works supervisor

had condemned the guttering, and now the completion of the school

appears to be as far away as ever.

There are 17 children going to school in this district, and the

building they are being taught in is not fit for pigs to live in.

Several members of Parliament have inspected the present school

room, and they included Mr. Nulsen, M.L.A., Mr. Bennetts,

M.L.C., Mr. Heenan, M.L.C., and the present Minister for Mines, Mr. Parker, and all were very caustic in their condemnation of the schoolroom.

The cold weather is here again and it is appalling to think that the children have got to go through another winter under such awful conditions. These children are a portion of Australia's future heritage; they are entitled to every care and consideration that the

Government can give them, and to think that a few lengths of guttering is going to damage their welfare and health is disgusting to say the least. This association sincerely hopes that this protest will not be ignored, and that something will be done immediately to alleviate the present position of the school children of Widgiemooltha. 

Yours etc.,E. POCH,

Hon. Secretary,

Widgiemooltha Prospectors' and Progress Association.

It is unclear of the extent to which Mr Poch’s implorings were successful as the eventual building of a schoolhouse and a new town hall in 1950 seems to have been largely undertaken and funded by local residents and businesses. Thereafter the town’s fortunes declined, and today Widgiemooltha is comprised only of the Widgiemooltha Tavern and Roadhouse and several houses.

John James Doyle

No history of Widgiemooltha can be written without reference to one of the Kings of the Outback, John James Doyle.  Born in Dublin, Ireland, in the early 1860s, James arrived in Western Australia during the gold rush era from Melbourne, where he had competed as one of the Irish tug-of-war team. He spent several years in the goldfields before spotting a business opportunity.

Upon the introduction of Cobb and Co. coaches from Esperance to Norseman and Coolgardie in the mid 1890s Doyle was alert to the necessity of facilities on the coach track and quickly installed a water condenser, built stables and provided amenities for coach passengers and Cobb and Co's horses. This formed the basis for a settlement, later to become Widgiemooltha.

Warden Finnerty, another Irishman, is reputed to have suggested that James sell something “more exhilarating than water.” Thus, Doyle’s Hotel was born in 1896 and was a feature and gathering place of the town for many years.

The hotel retained the aboriginal pronunciation of the town’s name – Wijimoola.

Points of Interest           

Widgiemooltha is the location of Hole 15 of the Nullabor Links Golf Course, the world’s longest golf course, which spans 1,365 kilometres from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna in South Australia.

Gold and nickel are still mined in the region.