Big Bell, WA

Big Bell hotel ruins

The town of Big Bell, in WA's eastern goldfields, was established in 1936 as a result of the opening of the Big Bell open cut gold mine. The gold of Big Bell was discovered in 1904, but it took another 32 years before a mine was finally established in the area by Big Bell Ltd.
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), who would go on to be the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933), spent some time at Big Bell as a mine engineer. Hoover came to Australia in 1897 as an employee of Bewick, Moreing & Co., a London-based mining company. He served as a geologist/mining engineer, leading a major programme of expansion for the Sons of Gwalia gold mine at Gwalia, Western Australia. Hoover also worked at goldfields in Big Bell, Cue, Leonora, Menzies and Coolgardie. Hoover married his Stanford sweetheart, Lou Henry, in 1899. They went to China in 1903, where Hoover worked for a private corporation as China's leading engineer.
Big Bell flourished with over 400 employees. Unfortunately, like many businesses, the outbreak of World War II lead to the mine's  closure for "war Purposes". Men joined the armed forces, machinery was removed for war purposes and as a result the town's population plummeted to 15. In Australia, all focus was on the war effort, as men were needed for production of munitions and food.
Like many small towns throughout Australia the effect of the war was devastating. In 1945, following the end of the war, the mine was back in business. By 1951 there was over a 1000 people living in town, 'business as usual'. Unfortunately decline in profitability saw the mine finally close its doors in 1955. The town vitually died following the closure and people owning property couldn't give it away. Many of the buildings were removed to Cue, Mt Magnet and Meekathara.
In its heyday, Big Bell was also a former railway branch terminus in Western Australia's Murchison Region. The first train arrived in Big Bell on 6th January 1937, however the line was not officially opened until 12th August that year. Services ceased from September 1944, but were revived the following year when the war in Europe was winding down and the gold mine reopened. The line finally closed on 31st December 1955.
Today, left in virtual ruins, the area has an eerie silence. Occassionally you see a rabbit hopping through a doorway of a ruin, a hawk circling from above or a big mining truck roaring past, but that is all. Any reminder of the town's existence will soon be gone. The Big Bell Hotel is the only reminder (if not disappearing reminder ) of the town's once oppulent past. Wandering through the shell of the Hotel you can still see evidence of its majestic past. The Big Bell hotel reputedly had the longest bar in Australia.
Mining the area finally ceased in 2003 and the plant was deconstructed and transported to the Westonia minesite in 2007. The ruins of the Big Bell town are located about 27kms west of Cue on the Big Bell mine road.