Norseman | Adventures

Norseman is a sprawling town, 600 kilometres east of Perth, its existence driven by mining and tourism. It has a population around 1000.

It is geographically important as the midpoint between Kalgoorlie (194km north) and Esperance (203km south) and the start of the Eyre Highway.

The huge tailings dump that dominates the skyline has become a symbol of the town. An icon.

Norseman has a district high school (opened 1894), shopping facilities, hotel, motel, caravan park, district hospital, and fuel outlets.

: The iconic Norseman Tailings Dam. It has become such a featture of the Norseman landscape that any moves to interfere with it are resisted. Photo Richard Carver.

The quest for gold led to the establishment of Norseman.

In August 1894, Lawrence Sinclair, his brother George Sinclair, and Jack Alsopp discovered gold on the Norseman line of reefs, known as Goodliffs Find.

Sinclair named the location after his horse, Hardy Norseman.

In January 1895 the mining warden asked the Government to declare a townsite for the 200 or so miners who had arrived. It was surveyed by Surveyor W.H. Angove in March and April 1895 after the locality was selected by Warden Arthur Hicks and Surveyor Angove in March 1895. The townsite was gazetted on 24 May 1895.

Norseman initially struggled to develop because of the established town of Dundas 10 kilometres south but, between 1895 and 1901, a post office, banks, doctor, courthouse, stores and churches were established and, in 1899 Cobb & Co, mail coaches started delivering mail to Norseman. In 1935, Western Mining Corporation came to Norseman and invested significantly in its infrastructure, resulting in new bitumen roads, electricity and an extension of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme to the town.

At one time Norseman was the second-richest goldfield in Western Australia after Kalgoorlie. It is claimed that since 1892, over 100 tonnes of gold have been extracted from the area. The Norseman Gold Mine is Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation – 1935-2014

References

Geonoma
Geological Survey Bulletin No.21 W.A. 1906.

: Legend has it that gold was found where Sinclair’s horse, Hardy Norseman, scraped away soil with his hoof.

The reports of the various trips, tours and travels on the Adventures website have a lot of information about place names – their naming and features – toponymy. More information.

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