When gold was first discovered in the arid regions of Western Australia it attracted from all parts of the world the rich, the adventuous, the hard-working family man, the characters, the villians, and a miscellaneous array of misfits. Together, they created a kind of history the author has endeavoured to record with both pathos and humour. These vivid stories have authentic backgrounds and some stem from gossip, yarns, pub talk, with origins that are hazy. But nobody who lived throughout the early days of the pioneer town of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, would deny the possibility of any of them.