The Place for Local and Family History
on the Western Australian Goldfields

Kanowna > Kanowna


Kanowna, Western Australia

Kanowna is an abandoned gold mining town in the eastern goldfields about 20 km north east of Kalgoorlie. Gold was discovered here in 1894, and the area was at first known as "White Feather". When the government decided to declare a townsite, H C Prinsep, then Under Secretary for Mines, stated the Aboriginal name of the place was Kanowna, and this was the name given to the townsite. The townsite was gazetted in December 1894. The name may not be local Aboriginal name however. There is a Kanowna Station on Coopers Creek in South Australia, and some sources state that one of the early Kanowna diggers came from this station, and brought the name with him. Another source states that "Kanowna comes from the Aboriginal word "kana" or "gana" which means "place of no sleep" or "can't sleep".

The term supposedly referred to the extremely stony ground surrounding area, making it an unpleasant place to camp. The term White Feather, although hard to track down with any accuracy, may have come from a dispute between two lots of diggers where one party took to their heels, showing a lack of courage. The remaining men named the lease after the event.

 

Reccomended Reading:


Wealth For The Willing - The Story of Kanowna by Robert Baugh

 

White Feather - The Story of Kanowna by Margaret Bull
ISBN 0 85905 111 0,

White Feather is the story of the old goldfield town of Kanowna, from the time gold was found by Jerry McAuliffe in October 1895 through to the 1980s.

Kanowna, originally known as White Feather, was in its heyday one of the richest goldfields in Western Australia outside the famous Kalgoorlie-Boulder golden mile. White Feather is a social history concerned with the discovery of gold and the early years on the find, life and conditions at Kanowna during its rapid growth, the steady decline of the field after the end of the 1890s, and some of the more important figures involved in the town's history.


 

Available from:
Hesperian Press - https://www.hesperianpress.com/
and The Eastern Goldfields Historical Soc - https://www.kalgoorliehistory.org.au


 


Return to Kanowna

Outback Family History Blog
WA Virtual Miners Memorial
Moya Sharp - Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) For Services to Community History

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

Maybe next time! No, thanks.



* indicates required fields