Gwalia resident works to save century-old home in 'living ghost town'
She has lived in the ghost town, 800 kilometres north-east of Perth in WA's northern Goldfields, for just over a year.
But her family's connection to the community goes back generations.
"I think that's probably been the main factor for me coming home," she said.
"But it's also just a really amazing place to live, there's no road rage, there's no traffic lights — very calm."
She said she was pitching in to help preserve her historic neighbourhood after a freak microburst storm sent tin sheets flying earlier this year.
The storm, which rolled through the town and nearby Leonora in a matter of minutes, caused significant damage to several of the near-century-old buildings.
While Leonora Shire remains committed to rebuilding the historical precinct, one of the former miner's cottages was so badly damaged it was earmarked for demolition.
With the shire's budget limited, Ms Williams and her father, Norm, saw an opportunity to help, offering $2,000 for a 99-year lease on the cottage.
"But my dad and I thought we may as well approach the shire [and see] if we can slow down the plans to demolish it," she said.
"Let's see what we can do."
Leonora's councillors unanimously accepted the offer, and the pair got to work.
Despite securing what is likely one of the cheapest rents in Australia, Ms Williams and her father have a big job ahead of them.
The storm tore off most of the roof.
"We had to do a bit of work getting out the insulation that fell on the floor."
The town site grew alongside the Sons of Gwalia gold mine from 1897.
It was the home of former US President Herbert Hoover, who took up a position as the mine's first manager.
A once-thriving community of 1200 residents became largely abandoned in just weeks, when the mine closed in 1963.
Almost a decade later, it was the vision of a Goldfields couple to preserve the town as a museum precinct.
But despite its "ghost town" label, Gwalia still has a handful of residents.
"It's actually really exciting, I've had a couple of neighbours move in recently at the street I live on," Ms Williams said.
Historian Chris Harris has been developing a database of Western Australia's ghost towns in the lead-up to the state's bicentennial in 2029.
She said a ghost town was one with a population of less than 10 per cent of what its population was in its heyday.
She said a ghost town might have been formed for a specific purpose, and when that purpose ended, the community dissolved.
"A ghost town can cease to exist right up until the current day," she said.
"The most recent one that everyone knows about, of course, is Wittenoom."
Ms Harris said the label could also be a tourist drawcard.
She said the list of towns in the project was ever-growing as records and family histories uncovered previously undiscovered ghost towns.
The project has grown from a list of 251 towns to more than 500.
Sections of the Williams's cottage's seemingly untouched charm can be found among the rubble of the storm damage.
Ms Williams said there were sections of pressed tin a previous resident had painted over in the shape of flower petals.
"We'll see what we can do to make it solid, but also respect it's history."
"Once it's gone, it's gone."
Ms Williams said the restoration had given her and her father a chance to bond, saying she was fortunate to have his help.
"There's not much he can't fix," she said.
The town's small number of permanent residents have plenty of visitors for company.
Ms Williams said people occasionally wandered into the wrong houses.
"I think sometimes they're just so enamoured with the place that they're head down, walking around, looking at everything," she said.
"And they actually forget sometimes when they stumble into people's yards."
But she said there was plenty of room for everyone.
"It's a unique opportunity that we've got tourism, we've got the community that live here, and we've also got mining," Ms Williams said.
Another cottage sits empty at the other end of Ms Williams' street.
She said she hoped someone else would join in the work to preserve Gwalia's living history.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
4 hours ago
- News.com.au
The Advertiser Foundation Blanket Appeal: Kids fleeing violence the tragic new face of Adelaide's homelessness crisis
Homeless shelters are receiving waves of children fleeing violence at home, including some arriving all on their own. And a shortage of affordable rental properties is trapping mothers in emergency motel accommodation for months, prompting some to return to abusive partners just to get back into stable housing. In one case raised by the SA Homelessness Alliance a woman and her two children stayed in emergency housing for six months before she 'returned to the perpetrator' out of desperation. The alliance is warning 'situations such as these will become more common' as rents increase. Welfare organisations across the country have shared the latest data on demand for their services in submissions to a royal commission into domestic, family and sexual violence in South Australia. A Homelessness Australia snapshot shows more than 2300 young people under the age of 18 arrived unaccompanied at homelessness services in SA in 2022-23. They accounted for 41 per cent of the 5583 children who came through the doors, including with parents, that year. SA's Women's Safety Services also estimated that 40 per cent of people living in its shelters that year were children. The following year, in 2023-24, about 30 per cent of those who sought help through the SA Homelessness Alliance because they were suffering family violence were aged between 15 and 25. In its submission to the royal commission, the Salvation Army warned there 'is insufficient safe accommodation' for those escaping abusive households and social housing waitlists are 'at an highest'. 'Our services anecdotally hear of women and children having to remain in motels for two to three months before a place becomes available in a refuge,' it says. 'Most concerningly, the absence of affordable housing exits means that many … feel they have no option but to return to the residence of the person using violence.' St Vincent de Paul's submission says its 20-room women's crisis centre is 'frequently at full occupancy' and some were staying 'for up to six months, with little hope of securing long-term housing'. 'Our assistance line receives daily calls from women who have been turned away from other services or are experiencing long waiting periods,' it says. The Hutt St Centre says half the women it saw in a six-month period had 'experienced violence, including controlling behaviours' and its CBD family space is 'often in high demand'. Treasurer Stephen Mullighan has committed to allocating 'a very substantial' amount of funding to act on the recommendations of the $3m, year-long royal commission, which are expected to be handed down in August. Why these doctors won't turn their back on homelessness A group of dedicated medicos refuses to allow themselves to become desensitised to the plight of those experiencing homelessness in Adelaide – in fact, their empathy only grows. For the eighth consecutive year, the Australian Chinese Medical Association Foundation is generously supporting the Advertiser Foundation Blanket Appeal. In 2025, the group whose members include GPs, specialists, medical officers and students is again among the first major donors to kickstart the appeal, this year contributing $10,000. Foundation chairperson Dr Francis Ghan, an orthopaedic surgeon, said he remained shocked and saddened by the sheer number of South Australians facing homelessness and that it impossible not to be moved by the many stories of hardship. 'It is total devastation for a person to lose their home,' he said. Friend and fellow face of the foundation Dr Lap Kwong Han agreed. 'We feel we have some form of responsibility towards the less privileged … in particular the homeless people,' he said. Hutt St Centre CEO Chris Burns welcomes the support and says every dollar donated helps in a very real and practical way, allowing his service to provide toiletries, warm clothing and bedding as well a 'warm meal in the morning'. White Ribbon changes name, supports Blanket Appeal A group that has been advocating in Adelaide for more than a decade and a half to end men's violence against women – motivated by a tragedy overseas – has generously donated to The Advertiser Foundation Blanket Appeal. Formerly known as White Ribbon Breakfast, hosting a breakfast each November for the past 16 years to raise awareness of gender-based violence, it has just relaunched as Wake Up To Change. The $5000 gift will be channelled to support programs at women's homelessness and recovery service, Catherine House. Treasure Mike McCarthy said it made sense to support the women-only charity, particularly in light of new statistics showing demand for its services was at an highest with as many as 55 women on its waitlist for safe housing. 'Each year we raise funds to raise awareness and support local initiatives – in 2024 we raised $30,000 and are very happy to be able to show our support for Catherine House and its many programs,' he said. White Ribbon Breakfast held its first event in 2009 when five influential women's organisations – Business and Professional Women (BPW), Zonta International, Soroptimist International, the National Council of Women SA and the Federation of University Women – came together to celebrate a global movement. In 1991, three men in Toronto, Canada, launched the White Ribbon Campaign in response to the 1989 Montreal Massacre, in which 14 women were murdered. They encouraged men to wear white ribbons as a public pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women.
News.com.au
7 hours ago
- News.com.au
Aussie woman's broken hand sparked huge beauty business
A woman who broke her hand and was left crying on the floor because she couldn't do her makeup has launched her own line of beauty accessories to help others. Storm Menzies has mild cerebral palsy, saying she has always lived with 'very few barriers' and has been able to adapt to living life with the use of one hand. But, when the 30-year-old broke her dominant hand in 2023 it made her realise 'how bad' her right side was. In that moment, she finally understood how much she'd been overcompensating. 'You normalise your struggles, so it just becomes your everyday,' she told Initially, she didn't think much of her broken hand. She was getting ready to go out one day, and tried to put makeup on, and she realised how difficult the task actually was. 'It was this moment of, 'Oh my god, how am I going to do this'. Everything else, I could find a workaround but you need a lot of dexterity to apply makeup,' she said. 'There was a tube of mascara and I couldn't pick it up from my makeup bag. I eventually managed to manouver it out, had it open and in my mouth and there was mascara everywhere. I couldn't put it on. It was so hard.' She sat on her bathroom floor and cried, wondering how she'd leave the house for three months without makeup. So, she started to Google accessible makeup. She couldn't find a single thing — bar one business that didn't ship to Australia at the time. Ms Menzies was confused, thinking maybe she was searching the wrong terms. She called a friend, who is also disabled and always looks immaculate, according to the Newcastle-based woman. She wanted to know how she did her own makeup. 'With great difficulty, why?,' her friend responded. Her friend said it sucked, often needing the help of a support worker. Ms Menzies was stunned, thinking she was about to give her a boatload of information on accessible beauty options. 'She said, 'Storm, makeup isn't made for people like me. Why would it be? No one thinks we're beautiful.' That moment, I realised it wasn't about the physical accessibility of makeup but what not having accessible makeup meant,' she said. 'There was also a mix of shame of having a disability and being 'lucky' for it not affecting me, and I worked in the disability sector for a long time and never asked.' Ms Menzies decided to fix this problem herself, and ByStorm Beauty was born. Initially, she started with the idea of creating accessible makeup. She bought some modelling clay and attached it to her makeup. She said she needed more surface area to grip with, and she was thrilled that the attachment helped. The young woman did a survey of 100 people with disabilities to discover what their beauty needs actually were. 'One of the resounding things that came through was people just wanted to use the same products, they didn't want to have 'special' makeup,' she said. 'Which wasn't what I was thinking.' So, she printed some 3D designs that essentially work as attachments to already existing makeup products. Ms Menzies noted it was lucky that a lot of makeup was cylindrical, and so far has made two attachments - a ball shape and a paddle shape, to help cover as many needs as possible. She said it's the 'coolest thing' to watch people use the products for their different needs. For instance, a male friend who was injured in a sporting accident who can now paint his daughter's nails with the help of her accessories. She commented that there have been some trolls, but she said in her mind it comes from a place of not seeing people with disabilities in spaces such as this before. She said more often than not, disability is portrayed in an incredible infantilising way — and her brand is bucking that trend. The big goal for Ms Menzies is to not only land in stores such as Mecca — as well as offering training to help staff cater to people with disability — but also prompt other brands to follow suit when it comes to inclusivity. And the brand sure is starting to take off; she's already got a supporter in Australian comedian Celeste Barber. Ms Menzies contacted Barber's brand BOOIE about a partnership and she replied instantly. 'I've been rejected by so many investors, I can't even count. But I sent her my pitch deck,' she said. 'She literally said to me, 'Holy f***ing sh*t balls, I was trying to make my products accessible and I thought accessibly priced but I never thought about how people use the products. I feel like such a d***.' 'I never expected her to reply,' the beauty founder admitted. Now, BOOIE is selling Ms Menzies' products in its signature colours on their website. Ms Menzies said it was the dream outcome. 'It's all I ever wanted to do,' she said.
ABC News
14 hours ago
- ABC News
Gwalia resident works to save century-old home in 'living ghost town'
Vanessa Williams feels lucky to call Gwalia home. She has lived in the ghost town, 800 kilometres north-east of Perth in WA's northern Goldfields, for just over a year. But her family's connection to the community goes back generations. "I think that's probably been the main factor for me coming home," she said. "But it's also just a really amazing place to live, there's no road rage, there's no traffic lights — very calm." She said she was pitching in to help preserve her historic neighbourhood after a freak microburst storm sent tin sheets flying earlier this year. The storm, which rolled through the town and nearby Leonora in a matter of minutes, caused significant damage to several of the near-century-old buildings. While Leonora Shire remains committed to rebuilding the historical precinct, one of the former miner's cottages was so badly damaged it was earmarked for demolition. With the shire's budget limited, Ms Williams and her father, Norm, saw an opportunity to help, offering $2,000 for a 99-year lease on the cottage. "But my dad and I thought we may as well approach the shire [and see] if we can slow down the plans to demolish it," she said. "Let's see what we can do." Leonora's councillors unanimously accepted the offer, and the pair got to work. Despite securing what is likely one of the cheapest rents in Australia, Ms Williams and her father have a big job ahead of them. The storm tore off most of the roof. "We had to do a bit of work getting out the insulation that fell on the floor." The town site grew alongside the Sons of Gwalia gold mine from 1897. It was the home of former US President Herbert Hoover, who took up a position as the mine's first manager. A once-thriving community of 1200 residents became largely abandoned in just weeks, when the mine closed in 1963. Almost a decade later, it was the vision of a Goldfields couple to preserve the town as a museum precinct. But despite its "ghost town" label, Gwalia still has a handful of residents. "It's actually really exciting, I've had a couple of neighbours move in recently at the street I live on," Ms Williams said. Historian Chris Harris has been developing a database of Western Australia's ghost towns in the lead-up to the state's bicentennial in 2029. She said a ghost town was one with a population of less than 10 per cent of what its population was in its heyday. She said a ghost town might have been formed for a specific purpose, and when that purpose ended, the community dissolved. "A ghost town can cease to exist right up until the current day," she said. "The most recent one that everyone knows about, of course, is Wittenoom." Ms Harris said the label could also be a tourist drawcard. She said the list of towns in the project was ever-growing as records and family histories uncovered previously undiscovered ghost towns. The project has grown from a list of 251 towns to more than 500. Sections of the Williams's cottage's seemingly untouched charm can be found among the rubble of the storm damage. Ms Williams said there were sections of pressed tin a previous resident had painted over in the shape of flower petals. "We'll see what we can do to make it solid, but also respect it's history." "Once it's gone, it's gone." Ms Williams said the restoration had given her and her father a chance to bond, saying she was fortunate to have his help. "There's not much he can't fix," she said. The town's small number of permanent residents have plenty of visitors for company. Ms Williams said people occasionally wandered into the wrong houses. "I think sometimes they're just so enamoured with the place that they're head down, walking around, looking at everything," she said. "And they actually forget sometimes when they stumble into people's yards." But she said there was plenty of room for everyone. "It's a unique opportunity that we've got tourism, we've got the community that live here, and we've also got mining," Ms Williams said. Another cottage sits empty at the other end of Ms Williams' street. She said she hoped someone else would join in the work to preserve Gwalia's living history.
