Audio tour Boulder's Corners - visual history of prosperous times past

Burt Street - Boulder, is the main street of the former Town of Boulder and is now part of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Boulder and its sister town of Kalgoorlie, have always had a rivalry and competed for resources, business opportunities and attracting new residents to live in their respective areas. Kalgoorlie has always been seen as the "big sister" and attracted more attention and notoriety over the years since gold was discovered there in 1893. Boulder has a long history of its own and deserves recognition of its place in the history of Western Australia

Boulder, gazetted 21st December 1897, was first started, as "a residential and business area for the convenience of the men working in the 'Boulder Belt' leases", and seen as "a matter of necessity".

The town, Boulder City, ran through a number of names as it grew in size and many of the "Army of workers" began to take up residence in the area. It was "Brookmans", Brookman's Camp", then 'Boulder Camp' and finally Boulder City, when it was named after the Great Boulder Mine.

Burt Street, the main street of Boulder was, named after the Attorney General of Western Australia at the time, Hon. Septimus Burt K.C.

It is said by locals, that "Burt Street was paved with Gold", as according to legend dirt and rocks from the mines were mixed into the the pavement for the roads.

If this was the case, there may have been a 'rush' to dig up the roads and gain that gold, so it is probably fortunate that the gold would be in minute quantities and hard to reclaim.

This tour is a walking tour of the buildings on Burt Street Precinct corners, or Boulder's Corners buildings of past glories and present day economic downturn in the mining industry.

The precinct is two blocks, bound by Brookman Street and Hamilton Street, and is the major Central Business District of Boulder.

Credit for Image

Teresa Bennett ©12th May 2018

Credit for Text

Casey, G. and T. Mayman (1964). The Mile That Midas Touched. Adelaide, South Australia, Rigby Limited. p.78

Dawson, E. A. (1997). What's in a Name? Street names of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Eastern Goldfields Historical Society. 

Spiller, G. (c2000). Gold and liquid gold: obsolete breweries of the Western Australian Goldfields. Perth, Western Australia, Western Australian Museum Kalgoorlie-Boulder. p.117

Western Australian Museum. "Streets Paved with Gold!" WA Goldfields. Retrieved 20th May, 2018, from http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/wa-goldfields/rush-gold/streets-paved-gold.