Menzies and Lake Ballard

This is what the beach in front of the cafe looked like after a storm a few weeks ago. Banks washed away. Play park has gone. Car park is closed. Our house will soon be on the beach front.

 

Quinns Beach after Storm

Jindalee Cafe

Shire Town Hall

Gold was discovered in the area in 1894, Leslie Robert Menzies, a Canadian-born prospector, and John McDonald (not Jocky babes) were the first to take up a lease here in October 1894. Menzies and McDonald found many very rich nuggets and quartz specimens studded with gold.

According to the writings of Warden Owen, it was estimated that in 1896 the population was 10,000, half of whom resided in the town and the other half in the surrounding land. Despite all these hardships, the people strived to make Menzies a vibrant profitable town. Water was carted to the town from surrounding lakes and underground supplies. The Government built a dam in 1897 and in 1901 this supplied water to the residences. The railway line between Kalgoorlie and Menzies was officially opened on 22 March 1898.

Menzies at this time boasted 13 hotels, 3 banks, its own breweries and cordial factories, a Post Office with a staff of 25, a school with 205 pupils, a public library (in 1904) and 4 churches.

It is a town that has seen many changes over the years. The population is generally low (less than 100); however this can change - and has changed rapidly as mines open and close in the local area. There is a pub with food, small shop and cold beer, a Post Office, a beautiful caravan park and the old state battery, which is in mint condition and worth a look. 

Roadhouse covered in Registration Plates

Menzies Hotel

Cobber - my latest painting

Baker's Oven

Prisoner in Handcuffs

Madam

 An eerie sight in the WA Goldfields near Site 20 of the Golden Quest Discovery Trail are the 51 life-sized statues that form the "Inside Australia" exhibition by internationally renowned artist Antony Gormley through an initiative of the Perth International Arts Festival. The Statues are situated on part of the major salt Lake system for the Northern Goldfields - Lake Ballard near the town of Menzies.

The work is an installation of black abstracted steel figures standing in a 7 square kilometre area of Lake Ballard - a salt-lake which is an extreme example of the beauty of the Western Australian outback. Sunrise and sunset are the best time to walk through this extensive installation of sculptures in the landscape.

Locals in the Menzies community contributed by having their naked bodies scanned. The resulting scans were used as the basis for making accurate concentrated forms which allow attitudes and emotions embedded in posture to be revealed. The resulting sculptures cast in a special alloy of elements taken from Western Australia are life-size in height but reduced to one third of their original body volume. They are intense, taut, stick-like body-forms that will stand out against the brilliant white of the salt-lake.

Lake Ballard

Stickman at Lake Ballard

Lake Ballard 

Goongarrie Salt Lakes