WAMining
Boulder
The town that grew beside the richest mine on the Golden Mile.
1893Great Boulder lease pegged
WHAT STARTED IT
In 1893, with the ground around Hannan’s find already pegged, prospectors Brookman and Pearce tried a new field a few kilometres from Kalgoorlie, and Pearce pegged the lease that became the Great Boulder Mine. The tents and shanties that gathered around it took the mine’s name.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
A townsite was gazetted in December 1896, blocks sold quickly, and Boulder became a municipality in 1897, with grand facades along Burt Street and a town hall built in 1908. The town reached about 5,600 people in 1903 and kept its own identity until it merged with Kalgoorlie in 1989.
TURNING POINTS
1893Sam Pearce pegs the lease that becomes the Great Boulder Mine.
1896The Boulder townsite is laid out and gazetted.
1897Boulder becomes a municipality, with J. M. Hopkins as mayor.
1908Boulder Town Hall is built on Burt Street.
1989Boulder and Kalgoorlie merge to form the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A suburb of Kalgoorlie–Boulder with restored gold-rush buildings along Burt Street. The old Golden Mile mines are now part of the Super Pit, one of the world’s largest open-cut mines.