Lawlers, Western Australia
| Lawlers Western Australia | |
|---|---|
  Lawlers | |
| Coordinates | 28°03′S 120°19′E / 28.05°S 120.31°ECoordinates: 28°03′S 120°19′E / 28.05°S 120.31°E |
| Established | 1896 |
| Postcode(s) | 6437 |
| Elevation | 482 m (1,581 ft) |
| Location | |
| LGA(s) | Shire of Leonora |
| State electorate(s) | Kalgoorlie |
| Federal division(s) | O'Connor |
Lawlers is a ghost town on the Old Agnew Road, 982 kilometres (610 mi) northeast of Perth, Western Australia, in the Shire of Leonora in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
Gold was discovered in the area by Anderson, Hall and Heffernan, a party of prospectors that left Cue in 1892. Patrick Lawler and his party arrived in 1893 and had little success until they left and returned in 1894.[1]
The townsite was surveyed and gazetted in 1896 and named after Patrick Lawler.[2] A ten stamp battery was established about 4.5 kilometres (3 mi) northwest of town in 1899 on a five-acre lease. A police station/courthouse was built the same year; it was closed in 1927, reopened in 1938, then closed permanently in 1950. In 1996 it was used as an office by the gold mining company .
At its peak, Lawlers was the state's third-largest town, with a population of 8,000. It had a separate local government area (the Lawlers Road Board) until 1929, when it was divided between the Leonora-Mount Malcolm and Mount Margaret Road Boards.
Notable residents[]
- , a prominent pastoralist, was chairman of the Lawlers Road Board from 1928 to 1929.[3]
- Charles Maley, a future state MP, managed a brewery in Lawlers in the early 1900s, and also served on the Lawlers Road Board.[4]
- Emil Nulsen, another future state MP, was secretary of the Lawlers branch of the Australian Workers' Union in the late 1900s.[5]
References[]
- ^ "Morowa District Historical Society" (PDF). 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ "History of country town names – L". Western Australian Land Information Authority. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
- ^ Mackinnon, Donald de Burgh D'arcy (Dan) (1900–1963), Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Charles Crowther Maley – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ Emil Nulsen – Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- Towns in Western Australia
- Ghost towns of the Goldfields of Western Australia
- Shire of Leonora