Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 14/1/2019 Brief: PARLWA-WA1 Page: 8 Page 1 of 7 Section: General News Region: Kalgoorlie WA Circulation: 3,224 Type: Regional Size: 1,928.00 sq.cms. Frequency: MTWTFS- Local hero brought spirit of a new age to the State Sir John Kirwan, former Kalgoorlie Miner editor, campaigned passionately and successfully for many progressive causes ᔡ Jan Mayman Irishman John Kirwan (1869- with friends and family in the East- Adventure. 1949) was a crusading editor of ern colonies. “Notwithstanding hardships the Kalgoorlie Miner in the late By 1899, opposition to the Forrest and dangers, the country around 19th century when WA’s East- government inspired moves for ern Goldfields held a third of separation of the Eastern Gold- Coolgardie was explored for hun- the vast State’s population. A fields from the rest of Australia to dreds of miles and it was found that passionate democrat, Kirwan create a new state in the desert it was not a mere ‘goldfield’ that inspired his readers to force called “Auralia”. was discovered, but what could be reluctant Premier John Forrest Kirwan’s fiery writing led to a characterised as a golden conti- to bring Australia’s western petition to Queen Victoria to sepa- nent. third into the national Federa- rate the Eastern Goldfields from “By May 1893, there were over tion in 1900. He learned his WA if it did not join the new Feder- 1000 men on the field. Valuable trade in Dublin, then emigrated ation. finds were reported in various out- to Brisbane, working in Sydney, The miners sent their appeal to side localities. There were frequent country Victoria and Port the Queen in a gold-mounted cas- rushes as reports of good finds Augusta before joining the WA ket. Under pressure from London, were received. gold rush as a journalist. Forrest finally agreed to a referen- “Exactly nine months after Cosmopolitan gold hunters dum, and more than half the yes (Arthur) Bayley reported the find brought radical ideas on republi- votes came from the Goldfields. at Coolgardie, Paddy Hannan canism, socialism and trade union- Kirwan campaigned passionate- arrived at Coolgardie with news of ism to Australia’s west. ly and successfully for many other a rich discovery at what is now Kal- Miners bitterly complained the progressive causes, including a goorlie, 24 miles east of Coolgardie, State government used wealth trans-Australian railway. and applied for and was granted a from the gold boom to benefit dis- Kirwan became a local hero reward claim. tant residents of Perth and Fre- through his brilliant reporting and “His find of alluvial was special- mantle, and farming districts editorialising in the daily Kalgoor- ly important, for it led to the dis- hundreds of kilometres away. lie Miner, informing Goldfielders covery of the lodes of the Golden They suffered from a lack of ba- of their political, social and legal Mile, which is held to be the richest sic services such as clean water, rights. square mile in gold that has ever and were excluded from decision- He brought the spirit of a new been worked.” making by an electoral distribu- age to the rest of WA, including its Kirwan wrote he knew Hannan tion weighed heavily in favour of politicians 592km away in Perth. well. “Like many of the pro- early settlers. He fostered and promoted pro- spectors who opened up the Gold- Hostility to Forrest’s conserva- gressive ideas to become a respect- fields, he was an Irishman; he was tive rule ran deep on the Gold- ed local leader, elected to the new born in the parish of Quin, County fields. Federal Parliament in 1900, al- Clare, about 1842, and came to Aus- The notorious “10-foot” law ban- though he was just 31 years old. tralia when he was 21 years of age,” ning alluvial miners from digging He kept writing all his life, often he wrote. deeper than 10 feet was a gift to big recalling exciting early days on the “In disposition he was quite gold mining companies, sparking Goldfields. “In no part of the world unlike the jovial, riotous type fair- widespread unrest among miners perhaps did nature show a more ly common in mining communi- in the late 1890s. harsh and inhospitable aspect than ties. For the miners, Federation rep- in the trackless, waterless expans- “He was kindly, quiet and resented fairer political represen- es of the arid interior,” he wrote in reserved. tation in WA, affirming their links his lively autobiography My Life’s “The story he told me of his great Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence. Ref: 1063278435 Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 14/1/2019 Brief: PARLWA-WA1 Page: 8 Page 2 of 7 Section: General News Region: Kalgoorlie WA Circulation: 3,224 Type: Regional Size: 1,928.00 sq.cms. Frequency: MTWTFS- discovery was simple and direct. various centres,“ he said. “It was: ‘I arrived in the colony in “During the second half of the March, 1889, and was at Parkers ’90s of the last century I can recall Range about 40 miles from South- the names of almost a score, ern Cross, when Bayley reported including several dailies, that were the discovery of a rich reef at Cool- published within that area, an area gardie. that but a few years previously was ‘I joined in the rush. a remote, waterless, foodless, ‘When we came on June 10 to trackless wilderness, hundreds of Mount Charlotte, my mate and I miles from a railway, and inhabited decided to stop and prospect the only by a few tribes of half-starved country round about. nomadic Aborigines. ‘To us it looked country where “It is not surprising that among there might be alluvial. so many there was a keen struggle ‘We found colours of gold and for existence. then got good gold at the north end “A high standard had to be main- of Mount Charlotte to down south tained to live, especially as the of Maritana Hill. Goldfields community was cosmo- ‘We soon realised that we were politan, among them being numer- located on a valuable field. Alluvial ous well-educated, adventurous gold was in abundance. We got and enterprising spirits attracted scores of ounces. from all parts of the world by the ‘It was agreed that I should go to lure of gold. Coolgardie and apply for a reward “None but the most readable claim’.” could survive. Of all those publica- Hannan retired to Melbourne, tions, only one is alive today, the living out his life quietly on a Kalgoorlie Miner, which several government pension, but his mem- years ago celebrated the 50th anni- ory lives on in Kalgoorlie’s main versary of its first issue. street, named for him, where his “The story of that paper, which I statue sits holding a fountain in the edited for the first 30 years of its shape of a water bag. existence, is one of the romances of Today, WA Goldfielders enjoy the Australian press.” pure water from the great pipeline that has brought rainwater from ᔡ Jan Mayman is a winner of the Gold the Perth hills since 1903, another Walkley, Australia’s premier of Kirwan’s grand dreams, journalism award, and a member of designed by another Irishman, the International Consortium of C. Y. O’Connor. Investigative Journalists. Her Kirwan became a member of WA grandfather George Mayman was a Parliament, where he served for 30 pioneer prospector and mine owner years to become president of the in the Eastern Goldfields. Legislative Council. In 1912, he married Teresa Ger- Kirwan trude Quinlan, the daughter of a campaigned WA politician. They had three sons — one was killed in World War I. passionately and He was knighted in 1930, and successfully for many never forgot his thrilling Gold- fields days. progressive causes. He recalled them in a talk to the WA Historical Society in 1949. “A remarkable feature of the early days of the Eastern Gold- fields was the astonishing spate of newspapers that were issued in the Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence. Ref: 1063278435 Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 14/1/2019 Brief: PARLWA-WA1 Page: 8 Page 3 of 7 Section: General News Region: Kalgoorlie WA Circulation: 3,224 Type: Regional Size: 1,928.00 sq.cms. Frequency: MTWTFS- Johnhi Kirwan was made ddifh editor of the Western Argus and d Kalgoorliellii Miner newspapers in November 1895. He was the first Federal member for the seat of Kalgoorlie in the Australian House of Representatives, elected in 1901. Then in 1908 elected to the WA Legislative Council where he sat until 1946, and served as president of the council from 1926 to 1946. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence. Ref: 1063278435 Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 14/1/2019 Brief: PARLWA-WA1 Page: 8 Page 4 of 7 Section: General News Region: Kalgoorlie WA Circulation: 3,224 Type: Regional Size: 1,928.00 sq.cms. Frequency: MTWTFS- Historian Anne Partlon says Goldfields pioneer John Kirwan played a huge part in the shaping of the nation we now live in. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence. Ref: 1063278435 Kalgoorlie Miner Monday 14/1/2019 Brief: PARLWA-WA1 Page: 8 Page 5 of 7 Section: General News Region: Kalgoorlie WA Circulation: 3,224 Type: Regional Size: 1,928.00 sq.cms. Frequency: MTWTFS- Portrait of Sir John Kirwan in July 1934. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.