[Kalgoorlie]

A Mining Romance. [The Romance of Kalgoorlie (drop-title)]

Adelaide, W.K. Thomas & Co., Printers, 1921 ('From the SA "Register", September 2, 1899').

Octavo, 28 pages with several tables plus a frontispiece portrait of Sir George Brookman.

Purple wrappers creased, unevenly sunned and tidemarked (with light associated cockling and tidemarks to the bottom inner corner throughout); light wear to the extremities; occasional light foxing; overall a decent copy.

The frontispiece is inscribed and signed by Sir George Brookman (1850-1927), mining entrepreneur, businessman and politician. 'After news of promising gold finds in Western Australia, Brookman formed the Adelaide Prospecting Party (later Coolgardie Gold Mining and Prospecting Co. Ltd) with ten paid shares of £15 each and five free shares issued to his brother William and Samuel W. Pearce. These two prospectors pegged claims at Hannan's Find, north-east of Coolgardie, in June 1893. Despite the waverings of associates, and conflicting reports from experienced men who visited "Brookman's sheep-run", as the claims were known, Brookman increased the syndicate's capital ... Difficult conditions on the fields, problems in delivering the first battery, and the financial stringencies of the promoters were surmounted; at the end of 1894 Brookman witnessed in person the satisfactory results of the initial clean-up at the battery. Next year Associated Gold Mines of Western Australia Ltd was formed in London to absorb further claims. By 1896 the success of the many Brookman companies, with the best leases on the "Golden Mile", was apparent - an achievement realized largely through Brookman's extraordinarily skilful financial transactions and able administration. When the Coolgardie Gold Mining and Prospecting Co. was voluntarily liquidated in 1898, its capitalization represented £9,275,750' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). The text of this pamphlet was first published in the SA 'Register' on 2 September 1899; the author is described in the lengthy first paragraph merely as 'our Special Reporter'. The article was accompanied by a portrait of a younger Mr George Brookman; he may have had a (financial) hand in this belated separate publication of a story in which he had a starring role.