Menzies

Lake Ballard

An icon of weird Australia are the 51 forlorn statues standing on the dazzlingly salt encrusted surface of Lake Ballard. The lake stretches for almost 100km but the nook that everyone visits is 51 km from Menzies. The sculptures are the work of British artist Antony Gormley who was commissioned to create the artwork for the 2003 Perth International Arts Festival. The figures began life as laser scans of current Menzies residents. Each scan was shrunk by two-thirds, creating truncated figures that were cast in an alloy containing molybdenum, vanadium and titanium – metals found in the local rock. Most people tend to view them in early morning or late afternoon, not only because the low sun colours the hills a radiant orange and throws gangling shadows from the feet of sculpture and viewer alike, but mostly because the midday sun makes the scintillating surface of the lake unbearably hot. The viewing site begins at the base of a domed hill from which the sculptures radiate haphazardly outwards toward the horizon. The closer ones get the majority of visitors, making the area around them smudged with muddy foot prints. Avid photographers should head to the disregarded brothers on the outskirts where the pristine blanket of salt makes for more striking shots. During the day insistent flies are phenomenally abundant but they retreat after sundown. A net and/or repellent would make things more comfortable. Other than walking around and having your photo taken with your arm around your new spindly metal friend, there isn't much else to do. A climb to the top of the domed hill at the entry provides a different perspective. A narrow path (steep in places) spirals up the side to the relatively flat hilltop. Snake hill is 3 km further up the road and gives a wider view of the lake.

Former Railway Hotel

Menzies Hotel

The last original pub left standing. It was renamed in 1990 but operated as the Railway Hotel since at least 1896. The present building is the hotel's second iteration – built after the original wood and corrugated iron structure burnt down in 1902. It was known for having the cheapest beer in town – a reputation it still holds today due only to a lack of competition.

Niagara Dam

Few sights in the Goldfieds typify the unbridled ambition of the Goldrush era more than Niagara Dam. Prospectors drawn to the desert by their thirst for gold were all too often defeated by a thirst for water. The importance of a permanent water source, not to quench the rapidly growing population's thirst as much as the equally demanding steam trains, was great enough to drive an engineering feat that, looking at it today, is difficult to believe was accomplished in 1897. The 18m-high dam builds on a natural rock ridge that forms a natural reservoir, capped with the 173m-long concrete wall. Construction materials had to be transported overland from Coolgardie by Afghan camel trains. This arduous trek was shortened later when the rail line extended to Menzies. A namesake town was established soon after construction began, intended to service the planned Leonora–Coolgardie rail line and nearby goldmines with water from the dam, but by the time of completion the gold had run out and town was in abrupt decline. After its completion in May 1897, the discovery of abundant underground water at Kookynie made Niagara Dam all but irrelevant. With the decline of Niagara township and a less impressive than expected capacity, the dam ultimately was never utilised and it quickly faded to a historical oddity. Today it's a popular camping spot and welcome chance to get wet in a region where salt lakes predominate. Though rain is infrequent here, the dam fills quickly and is always full enough to go for a swim. There are two short hiking trails around the dam and along the break away area. The site of the Niagara township is about 3 km eastwards from the dam turnoff. A sign marks the spot where the short lived community once stood with four pubs on each corner of the crossroads of the only two streets in town. A wander across the rubbly ground will reveal lines of mud bricks, bottle fragments and other interesting detritus that, with a bit of imagination, show the lives of people.

Former Lady Shenton Hotel

With a graceful façade befitting its name, this was the pre-eminent hotel during Menzies' golden years. The stonewalled rear section forms its humble beginnings in 1896. The foundations are said to conceal a time capsule containing coins and a newspaper. The hotel built its reputation and was extended several times under successive owners who, despite the hotel's sterling reputation, ended their tenure in bankruptcy. A fire in 1902 sparked a significant addition of the brick street frontage, including five bedrooms and a billiard room. The town's declining fortunes took the hotel down with it and it ceased trade in 1922. The visitors centre occupies the building now.

Menzies Cemetery

Headstones spread over a wide area document the harshness of life in early days of the frontier township. Most of the graves here are from 1900 to 1910 when accidents, illness, alcoholism and Typhoid epidemics ended numerous hard lived lives. The names and dates on some headstones have been weathered unreadable by the passing of time but a dozen ornately cut tin headstones, unique to the area, have endured as defiant monuments to the ingenuity of people forced to make do with little, even in death.

Old Post office

The original post office on this site was little more than a wood framed tent. A more substantial structure was built in 1896 on Brown Street, designed by legendary public works architect George Temple-Poole. An extension was made in 1903 out to Shenton Street to provide enough room for the 26 staff. The town's decline led to its closure in 1952, when it became a private residence. The owners demolished the original Brown Street section, leaving the part you see today.

Old bakers oven

No one is certain when the oven was built, only that a succession of owners kept it in use until the 1940s. The tin shed bakehouse and accompanying store are long gone, leaving only a disintegrating block of bricks hung with a heavy iron door that must have seen a lot of loaves come out of it over the years.

Original Menzies Hotel

The first hotel in town and the only one to have never caught fire. Now a private residence.

Railway Station

When the rail line was extended north from Kalgoorlie in 1898 the sizeable railway station was quickly built and for a while was the head of the line. Under the long green roof were separate offices for the station master and clerk, a lady's waiting room, public toilets, parcel room and ticket office divided by a central arched entrance. The local newspaper criticised its extravagance. Nonetheless it was opened with much fanfare and brought in many goods, people and wealth to Menzies. The station stayed in service but declined over the years, finally receiving its last train in 1974. The building is now used by a mining company who've locked it away behind a fence to keep visitors off the junk they are storing there, but you can walk around the perimeter and along the platform edge for a pretty good look.

Tank Hill

The site of the town's previous and current water supply. There is not much to see up there but it's a good overview of the town when looking down.

Town Hall

The most significant building in town started out far more diminutively in 1896 as council offices. Subsequent extensions completed by 1901 added the stone façade and clock tower, oddly without a clock for the first few years. In 1904 a clock was ordered from London, but the steamship SS Orizaba that held the clock ran aground off the coast of Fremantle. Though much of the cargo was salvaged, Menzies' new clockface was not recovered and was thought to have sunk to the sea floor with the ship. The clock tower remained empty till 1999 when four new clock faces were built in Perth and installed to celebrate the Millennium.

Pioneer Store Gallery

42 Shenton St