Santa Claus alluvial area, Ora Banda Goldfield, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Santa Claus alluvial area	Area
Ora Banda Goldfield	Ore Field
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

This is a minor alluvial gold area, about 1 kilometre west of the Paddy's Knob Mindat locality on the Ora Banda, Davyhurst Road north of Ora Banda. There appears no clear access to the location these days.

It was largely written about in 1912, when a local controversy broke out about the site. At this time a newspaper wrote about it being a new find, and a gold rush had set in. This information had come from an Ora Banda resident. The alluvial miners on the field were so incensed by some of the statements, they banded together to set the record straight. In the process some interesting facts came to light.

Most remarkable is we have the names of all or most of the alluvial miners present in 1912, thanks to a letter to the newspaper they put their names to. They are J. Price, E. Dunn, J. O'Neil, E. Paizes, L. Brown, J. Bullman, Dan Neil, W.R. Jones, M. Mullany, Daniel McHugh, L. Prendergast, John Morrison, W. Ducrow, E. Duncan, J. Wilson, John Quigley, W. Tinker, H.J. Moore, S.W. Williams, A. Courage, W. Olthean, and T. Coghlan.

Rather than a new find, they state it is sixteen years old, but was abandoned as unpayable. The writer found little information other than French, and George Reay were on the site in 1906. The latest round of workings started in 1910, but many men had left who were barely getting tucker money.

The newspaper sent a reporter who made a detailed report on the location, which was scathingly negative, either because little gold was at the location, or to avoid being lynched by an angry mob of alluvial gold miners.

He states the location uncovered one of the biggest nuggets discovered in Western Australia to that time. Near the site Scott and Walsh had pegged a lease in years past and found a rich leader. It was a location known for 'the rare big prizes and many blanks'.

About 6 feet of earth needs to be removed to reach the bottom, where there is a thin layer of wash containing some gold. There are no defined gutters (borders) to the deposit. The wash barely contained enough gold to sustain the men with tucker money, and most were hoping to uncover a large nugget. A 43 oz nugget was found at the site by Prendergast.

J. Riordan sank a 10 foot shaft in 1920 near the Santa Claus Gully on a lode formation with quartz leaders containing gold. This was the last information found.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References