Gold is Discovered

The 1896 exploration expedition mounted by Coolgardie prospectors Jack Carlson, Frank White and A. Glendinning was financed by Coolgardie storekeeper brothers Thomas and Ernest Tobias. Lease 190C was registered in the name of Thomas Tobias who named it Sons of Gwalia in honour of his Welsh heritage – Gwalia is an old name for Wales. 

The following year the syndicate sold the lease to G.W. Hall for £5000 cash and a company, Sons of Gwalia Ltd, was established. Hall erected a second-hand 10-stamp battery and by June the mine employed 110 men, whose tents and corrugated iron and hessian cottages sprang up around the mine workings. Hall recouped his entire investment in the first month.

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