Raffety's Patch gold area (Irish; Six Mile), Sandstone, Sandstone Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Raffety's Patch gold area (Irish; Six Mile)	Area
Sandstone	- not defined -
Sandstone Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

An alluvial gold area about 3 kilometres west of Sandstone, and south of the Sandstone-Mount Magnet Road. Several groupings of shafts and shallow cleared areas from modern near surface minor mining. People have become lost in this area. Discovered just after the turn of the 20th Century but it soon petered out. More information needed on locality.

Historically, there was also a Raffety's Patch about 12 kilometres north of the Maninga Marley Mine, or about 20 kilometres south-east of Sandstone. In 1906, a rush of 300 men made their way to this alluvial patch. A few men had picked up slugs 3-4 ounces, the largest 5 ounces.

Mindat provides a source of historic and geological information for gold sites like these, but rarely is there room to provide a sense of atmosphere. The following is a small part of an article written about another alluvial find near Raffety's Patch in 1912.

'Nothing travels so rapidly in the Red West as the whisper of a new gold find. Red Mick came in from the rocky country at the back of Maninga Marley, and headed for the iron and hessian humpy called the bank. Here he pulled out several fair sized nuggets, which were weighed, and he received thirty five sovereigns and some odd silver change.

(Mick's tracks were followed back to the find, and the rush was on. The writer states on travelling out to the location were men from all over the world: Italians, Japanese, Chinese, Afghans, Indians, Germans, Irish and Scotsmen).

The little burn't out gully seemed the centre point of which the long lines of struggling caravans concentrated. Mild eyed camels with stolid oriental drivers stared at wonderment at the spectacle. Along the gully and up to the summits of neighbouring hills an army of hundreds of prospectors scoured the land. Old hands with their primitive dryblowers could be seen dimly through the dust. There was not a drop of water for miles, and a couple of traders with barrels of muddy water, were filling up water bags for exhorbitant prices.

A circus troupe had camped at Sandstone, and heard of the rush, and hurriedly hitched up their wagons and charged to take diggers out to the field. There was a tradition on new goldfields, the first woman on the field had to marry the discoverer of the gold field. The woman running the circus was introduced with great ceremony to Red Mick, although he declined the invitation.

By evening more women arrived named Mulga Queen, Kangaroo Kate, Alice Where Art Thou, Straight Dinkum, Big Kitty, and Highland Mary, selling sly alcohol, and other service which cannot be mentioned here.

The field petered out, and after a few found 500 pounds of nuggets, a month later the area was deserted.'

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References