Bulong, Western Australia

Bulong is an abandoned town[1] in Western Australia located 580 kilometres (360 mi) east of Perth in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.

Bulong
Western Australia
Bulong
Coordinates30.43°S 121.59°E / -30.43; 121.59
Established1895
Postcode(s)6431
Elevation431 m (1,414 ft)
Location
  • 580 km (360 mi) east of Perth
  • 34 km (21 mi) east of Kalgoorlie
LGA(s)City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
State electorate(s)Eyre
Federal Division(s)O'Connor

In 1893 a group of prospectors, Hogan, Henry, Holmes, Kennedy and Turnbull, discovered gold on a lease they were granted called IOU.[2][3]

A surveyor named G. Hamilton was given instructions to design the town layout in 1894, which was to be named IOU.[4] Hamilton suggested the name be changed to the Indigenous Australian name of a nearby spring called Bulong.

The townsite was gazetted in 1895.[5]

On the back of gold mining the population of the town grew to 620 by 1900, and it boasted large number of businesses including several hotels, bakeries, accountants, butchers and stores. The town also had a hospital, school, police station, telegraph station and post office. The town's water supply was obtained from Lake Yindarlagooda, condensed on the lake's banks then pumped to the top of Mount Stuart to gravity feed to the town. It had its own newspaper, the Bulong Bulletin, from 1897 to 1898.[6] Hotels included the Bulong Hotel (on the corner of Reid and Colin Streets), the Court Hotel, Globe Hotel and Grand Hotel.[7] Bulong Post Office opened on 2 January 1896, was downgraded to a receiving office on 1 July 1921 and again to a telephone office on 1 October 1924, and closed on 30 August 1956.[8]

A nickel mine and processing plant operates near the old town site and was sold to Lionore in 2005. Lionore planned to upgrade the plant to process 10,000 tonnes of ore per year but were also investigating using water based technology to process 40,000 tonnes per year.[9]

Bulong had its own local government at its height: the Municipality of Bulong existed from 1896 to 1909 and the Bulong Road District from 1899 to 1911.[10]

References
  1. "Aboriginal Education - Abandoned Communities". 2010. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
  2. "Morowa District Historical Society" (PDF). 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  3. The name of the locality IOU can be found in books, and on early maps of the goldfields despite the established official name - see also Devitt, F. (1952) I.O.U. and Bulong. Journal and proceedings (Western Australian Historical Society : 1949) Vol. 4, pt. 4 (1952), p. 68-69
  4. "Old Post Office, Bulong IOU, WA". State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  5. Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of country town names – B". Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  6. "Fact Sheet: Research Resources" (PDF). City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  7. "Hotels A - L". Outback Family History. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  8. "Bulong". Post Office Reference. Premier Postal. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  9. "Big plans for Bulong nickel plant". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 17 March 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  10. "Bulong Municipality". Kalgoorlie Western Argus. Western Australia. 10 December 1896. p. 13. Retrieved 11 January 2020 – via Trove.
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