Published on Friday, 2 December 2022 at 2:16:41 PM
The small town of Widgiemooltha is in the Shire of Coolgardie, 98km south of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
Gold was discovered in the area in the mid-1890s, not long after the establishment of Coolgardie. It was gazetted as Widgiemooltha in December 1897.
The name is Aboriginal in origin and is variously thought to be the name of a hill or nearby rock hole or related to the beak of an emu.
By 1898 the town, on the southern shores of Lake Lefroy, had a population of 100 men and 12 women.
After the arrival of the railway line in 1908, the townsite was moved to the siding about a mile (1.6km) or so southwest of its original location.
In 1909, the town consisted of 2 hotels, a post office, an empty baker’s shop, and some surveyed yet unoccupied residential lots.
Other spellings of the own found in old documents include Wedgemulla Hill, Woodgiemoola, Wadjiemoultha, Wagemulla, Widgimoultha and Widgiemoultha. It was changed to Widgiemooltha in 1944.
The original townsite is at the rear of the Widgiemooltha Tavern and Roadhouse.
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