138 Australian Life 



ones. Over in Western Australia is a golden city 

 in the desert, not ten years old, but already replete 

 with all the conveniences of a great modern city. 

 Here in Kalgoorlie, men live by gold alone, and 

 talk only of mines and mining shares. Day and 

 night, the thud of the quartz batteries is never 

 hushed, and almost every day, a precious freight 

 of golden bars and cakes is despatched by train 

 to the capital for coinage. It is a city of big 

 mines, equipped with all the most modern appli- 

 ances for extracting the last fraction of gold from 

 the ore. Kalgoorlie is situated in the arid belt, 

 and since the operations of these mines require a 

 plentiful supply of water, a stream has been 

 dammed and a great reservoir made near the 

 coast. From this reservoir, the water is pumped 

 through steel pipes for a distance of more than 

 two hundred miles to drive the engines and fill 

 the sluices of the Kalgoorlie mines. It is a won- 

 derful place, this golden city in the desert. In its 

 big hotels, bronzed prospectors in evening dress 

 discuss their future plans over elaborate cham- 

 pagne dinners. In another month's time, these 

 men, clad in flannel shirt and soiled moleskins, 

 and begrimed with the red dust of the dry-blow- 

 ing machine, will be living on tinned meat and 

 condensed water. Now they ride on electric 

 trams and motor-cars, and take their pleasure in 

 a great theatre or at a race-course where stakes 

 worth a thousand pounds are decided. 



Two hundred miles further inland, a straggling 



