In June 1893, Patrick Hannan and Thomas Flanagan were travelling with a large group of men heading to the new gold prospect at Mount Youle.
It was while the group had stopped, in the area now known as Kalgoorlie, that Flanagan discovered the first alluvial gold on the slopes of Mt. Charlotte, about June 10, 1893.
After telling the rest of the party a ruse (about a lost horse or so the story goes), the two men, now in company with Dan Shea, stayed behind while the rest of the party continued to Mount Youle and searched for more gold, uncovering 100oz in a short period of time.
A Reward Claim was pegged out, and Paddy Hannan rode the 30 miles back to Coolgardie, arriving at the Wardens Office (also the police station at the time) on the night of June 17, 1893.
This sparked a gold rush that would eventually lead to the discovery of the richest gold find in Australian history—the Golden Mile.
Today, 132 years later, that find is still one of the world’s largest gold producers – the KCGM Super Pit.
Paddy Hannan died in “the early hours of Wednesday, November 04, 1925 at his home in Brunswick. The death certificate shows the cause of death as heart failure and reveals that he had suffered from carcinoma of the stomach for the previous fifteen months.
The news of his death was reported the next day, Thursday, November 5, in both The Age and The Argus in Melbourne. The news had quickly spread across the country, as it was also reported on the 5th by the Kalgoorlie Miner. The Kalgoorlie Miner, in their report, paid tribute to Hannan, describing him with the words, “pioneer prospector of Kalgoorlie, whose historical discovery of gold near the present site of the Hannan Street railway station a little over 32 years ago had an important influence not only upon West Australia, but upon the whole of Australia.” (Thomson, T. 1993).
November 04, 2025, marks 100 years since the death of Paddy Hannan, and the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society is holding a memorial to mark this milestone.
The Society is holding the memorial at Paddy Hannan’s Tree, Outridge Terrace, on Tuesday, November 04, at 7:30 am until about 8:30 am.
The line-up of events is as follows.
7.30 am -Tim Cudini, President EGHS, Welcome
7.40 am –Ivan Henderson – poem “Paddy”
7.45 am – Tim Cudini – the obituary of Paddy Hannan
8.00 am – The Matt O’Neil Family Band will perform
8.10 am – Scott Wilson, Vice President EGHS – “Their Discovery”
Followed by morning tea at the Museum of the Goldfields, where they will have on display a wooden trunk and a walking stick that once belonged to Paddy Hannan.
Everyone is invited to attend. For more information, please get in touch with the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society on (08) 9093 3360.
The Eastern Goldfields Historical Society acknowledges the support of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
