Kambalda

A former gold mining town which derives it income today from the mining of nickel.

Kambalda's Red Hill Lookout has a bushwalking trail. From the top, travellers have a bird's eye view of nearby Lake Lefroy, a large 510-square km salt pan which stretches to the horizon and is rarely filled with water.

Lake Lefroy

Lake Lefroy is a popular spot for land yachting, it is considered by many all over the world to be one of the best places to sail a land yacht due to its size and the texture of its surface.. Historically, land sailing was used as a mode of transportation or recreation. Since the 1950s it has evolved primarily into a racing sport. The lake and its surface have been used in the past for Australian land speed record attempts and also hosted the 2007 Pacrim Land Sailing Event in which competitors from all over the world descended on its flat smooth surface. In 2008, an English adventurer spent two weeks on the lake with his own designed and built yacht to attempt the world wind powered vehicle record but Mother Nature failed to help out.

Lake Lefroy is a large salt lake in southern Western Australia. It is north of Lake Cowan and approximately 55 kilometres south of Boulder. The towns of Kambalda and Widgiemooltha are both located along the western shore of the lake. The lake was named by the explorer Charles Cooke Hunt in 1864 after fellow explorer Henry Maxwell Lefroy who had conducted an expedition in the area with Henry Landor in 1863. In 1896 gold was discovered on the northern edge of the lake by the prospector Pierce Larkin. Approximately 106 ounces (3,005 g) of gold were found near where Kambalda stands today.

King's Battery

Located on Woolibah station, King's Battery was employed to process gold-bearing ores from local gold mines. Today all that remains of the original operation is a tower and some brickwork which housed a water paddle wheel. Bushwalking and picnic activities available.

Mt Windarra Minesite Lookout

Overlooks the site of the nickel mine that had its birth through the extraordinary global stock market frenzy associated with the exploration company Poseidon NL (No Liability). This was in 1969-70, marking the pinnacle of Western Australia’s famed ‘nickel boom’ that has, through dramatic highs and lows, endured to this day.

It was through Poseidon NL that thousands of ordinary ‘mum and dad’ Australians were first tempted to ‘play’ the stock market.  At the time, most lost out, but a select few made fortunes of considerable proportions. Some think of it as the Poseidon ‘Mis-adventure’ yet it represented a watershed moment in the history of Australia’s enduring love affair with investing in precious, semi-precious, and base metals.

Gold prospecting

Though the gold rush days are well and truly over,there is still plenty of gold in the ground throughout the Goldfields region, which is renowned for prospecting and fossicking. To prospect in WA each person requires a Miners Right. Kalgoorlie Tours and Charters has a tour that will show the visitor how to prospect for Gold. For up to date information and assistance on gold prospecting contact: The Department of Mines and Petroleum Kalgoorlie Office Ph. (08)  9021 9499.


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Where is it?

60 km south of Kalgoorlie


Brief history

When gold was first discovered here in 1897, Surveyor W. Rowley recorded the locality's name as Kambalda because he liked the sound of it. Its is believed to be of Aboriginal origin though its meaning is not known.

The gold finds at Kambalda were never of the magnitude of those at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, and the settlement soon became a ghost town. It remained that way until the Western Mining Corporation found nickel nearby in the early 1970s. It was then redeveloped into a thriving company town.

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