Ora Banda, Western Australia

Ora Banda Western Australia
The Ora Banda Hotel
Ora Banda
Established:	1912
Postcode:	6431
Elevation:	449 m (1,473 ft)
Location:	66 km (41 mi) North East of Kalgoorlie 663 km (412 mi) East of Perth
LGA:	City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder
State District:	Electoral district of Kalgoorlie
Federal Division:	O'Connor

Ora Banda is a townsite, now a virtual ghost town, located 66 kilometres (41 mi) north east of Kalgoorlie. According to folklore, the town name is Spanish meaning 'band of gold'.^[1]

History

The Ora Banda Hotel was the place to meet up.‎

Gold was discovered in the district in 1893 and in 1909 the Ora Banda Progress Committee requested the Government make additional lots available, but it was 1911 before a decision was made to declare a townsite there The survey of lots was made in 1911, and the townsite gazetted in 1912^[2]. By 1910 there were approximately 2,000 miners and their families living in the area. The town had two stores, two butchers, two bakers, a town hall, dining halls, a post office, a police station, churches, boarding houses and billiards saloons.

The once famous Huntington Mills Bank was situated there. Which in its time it was the largest bank in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1911 the Ora Banda Hotel was constructed by Alfred E Garnett using stone and brick.

On 17 June 1913, Eileen Walls (13yrs old) led a procession of school children up the main street, and had the honour of cutting the ribbon and so officially opened the Ora Banda State Battery. The five head battery ran three shifts and in 1936 another five head had to be added.

Water was supplied to the town by dams until the town was connected to the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme from Kalgoorlie in 1933

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  The Ora Banda school burnt down

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  Living conditions were rough.

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  Mine shafts were scattered across the area

Current

Today's goldmining companies are still working the same sites discovered nearly a century ago, and on the outskirts of town you will find the Ora Banda State Battery which is still used to crush ore.

Annually in September the population swells for a day for the Ora Banda Race Day. The race track is opposite the historical Ora Banda Inn.

The town hit the headlines in 2000 when Gypsy Joker, Billy Grierson, was fatally shot while sitting at a camp fire on the old town site. Former Criminal Investigation Bureau chief and Ora Banda hotel owner Don Hancock was suspected of the shooting and his properties were later fire-bombed. Hancock was later killed in a car bombing in 2001 in Perth, Western Australia in a revenge attack by other Gypsy Jokers.^[3][4]

External links

• The Ora Banda Historical Inn The inn will be 100 years old in 2011
• Tourism site
• Ora Banda Historical Inn located in WA's Golden Outback

References

1. ^ "Sydney Morning Herald - Travel - Ora Banda". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2004-02-08. http://www.smh.com.au/news/western-australia/ora-banda/2005/02/17/1108500208625.html. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
2. ^ Western Australian Land Information Authority. "History of country town names". http://www.landgate.wa.gov.au/corporate.nsf/web/History+of+country+town+names. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
3. ^ "Sydney Morning Herald - Gypsy Joker sniper shooting mystery". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-04-21. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/gypsy-joker-sniper-shooting-mystery/2006/04/21/1145344267201.html. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
4. ^ "The Age - Gypsy Jokers break silence over mate's murder mystery". Melbourne. 2006-02-06. http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Bikies-break-silence-over-mates-murder/2006/02/06/1139074161868.html. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 

Coordinates: 30°23′S 121°04′E / 30.38°S 121.06°E / -30.38; 121.06