Yundamindera Western Australia |
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Coordinates | 29°07′16″S 122°02′20″E / 29.121°S 122.039°ECoordinates: 29°07′16″S 122°02′20″E / 29.121°S 122.039°E |
Established | 1901 |
Postcode(s) | 6435 |
Elevation | 448 m (1,470 ft) |
Location | |
LGA(s) | Shire of Leonora |
State electorate(s) | Kalgoorlie |
Federal Division(s) | O'Connor |
Yundamindera, also once known as The Granites, is an abandoned town located between Leonora and Laverton in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
Gold was discovered in the area in the late 1897 after gold at the nearby field of Pennyweight Point began to run out. Two prospectors named Wood and his nephew Deimal found gold near the Granites and following an influx of prospectors and miners declaration of a townsite was deemed necessary by 1901. The townsite was gazetted later the same year. The goldfield warden proposed the name Yundamindera which he had told the locals was the Aboriginal name for the area. The meaning of the name is unknown.
Some of the mines that were established in 1899 were the Great Bonaparte, the Queen of the May and the Golden Treasure South. Water for the town was sourced from nearby wells and soaks. A coach service ran once a week in 1908 from Coolgardie via Menzies to the town. By 1903 a coach ran twice a week to Murrin Murrin.
A branch of the Western Australian Bank was opened in the town in 1901. A local board of health was also established earlier the same year.
By January 1903 the local progress committee were in discussion with the Education Department to appoint a teacher for the district as a result of the good number of children of school-going age about the town. The teacher, Mrs Sara Ramsden, was appointed in September of the same year.
Gibb Maitland, the government geologist, surveyed the area between Yundamindera and Edjudina in 1903 and later compiled a report on the mineralogy of the fields.