Camels in Coolgardie, 1890s

Educational value

• This asset shows a scene in early Coolgardie, 550 kilometres east of Perth and 40 kilometres west of Kalgoorlie, where camels played such an important role in transporting freight that the streets were created wide enough to accommodate turning camel trains - there is still a camel farm at Coolgardie today.
• It shows Arabian camels, more than 11,000 of which were brought into Australia between 1860 and 1907 to provide transport in the harsh desert regions where horses, mules and bullocks were ineffective - camels are especially suited to conditions in the interior because of the spongy pads on their feet, which enable them to walk easily on sand, their ability to travel long distances without needing to take on water, and their capacity for carrying heavy loads.
• It illustrates some of the camels that the famous Australian poet A B 'Banjo' Paterson described in Coolgardie in 'Shouting for a camel' - the poem captures much of the atmosphere of the time, with its mention of Afghans, miners, water shortages and mining speculators.
• It shows the premises of the 'Coolgardie Miner', an influential local newspaper first printed on 14 April 1894 by William (Billy) Howard Clare.
• It illustrates the style of construction common in gold field towns, where buildings were erected quickly from wood and corrugated iron, often opening straight onto the dirt road, and were fronted with facades to make them look more impressive.
• It demonstrates how people in frontier towns often extended their range of speciality to attract more customers - watchmakers and jewellers Vincent Edward Nesbit and Herman M Jerger also dispensed glasses and gave eye tests.
• It is an example of an albumen print, made by coating paper first with a layer of egg white and salt to create a shiny surface, and secondly with a layer of silver nitrate; the two layers combined to form light-sensitive silver salts - such prints, invented in 1859 and common until the end of the 19th century, produced hardier and clearer images than earlier methods.
• It shows an item from the collection of Sir Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell (1898-1977), a noted collector of documentary evidence relating to the European exploration, discovery and colonisation of Australia - over 14,000 paintings, drawings, etchings, manuscripts, books, pamphlets, objects and maps make up the Rex Nan Kivell Collection, which is held by the National Library of Australia.

Year level

5; 6; 7; 8; 9

Topics Australian history Camels