A Rich Endowment: Government & Mining in Western Australia, 1829-1994

by Ken Spillman

Western Australia is endowed with an abundance of mineral and petroleum resources, and mining has played a central role in the State's economic, social and political life. A century after the celebrated 1890s goldrushes, his vital industry returns to the State many hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually.
A Rich Government and Mining in Western Australia 1829-1994 examines the role of Western Australian governments in encouraging, regulating and administering the industry, outlining the development of mining law and the elaboration of services to prospectors and miners.
From a thoroughly researched account of early mineral discoveries, Ken Spillman focuses on the work of the Department of Mines - including functions as diverse as operating state batteries, monitoring dust levels in mines, controlling goldfields water supplies, administering the WA School of Mines, and even managing a government-owned hotel.
Ken Spillman brings to life the remarkable men of science who served as Government Geologists, the powerful goldfields wardens, and a range of other characters - including a gentlemanly clerk who once roamed as the murderous Captain Starlight.
Commissioned by the Department of Minerals and Energy to celebrate its 1994 centenary, A Rich Endowment offers new insight into many facets of Western Australia's past.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Ken Spillman grew up in Perth and has been a full-time professional writer for most of his adult life. He is the author of 20 books including Blue and Love is a UFO, both acclaimed novels for teenagers. He co-authored Magpie Mischief and Magwheel Mayhem, and is also the author of the forthcoming title Jake’s Gigantic List (for early readers). During 2008, Ken was a keynote speaker at the Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference and a guest of the Tasmanian Writers Centre, the Mussoorie International Writers’ Festival, and the Delhi Children’s Literature Festival. He was a keynote speaker at a conference on multiliteracies in Singapore earlier this year. Ken has compiled five collections of writing, and the major US reference work Contemporary Authors has compiled a detailed entry on his career.