Page:History of West Australia.djvu/602

 elegant hotels in Australasia. The Palace Hotel, luxuriously and comfortably equipped, is the strongest evidence of his faith in the future of this colony. Mr. De Baun is the fortunate possessor of much real estate in Perth. A large section of the principal street belongs to him, and the Melbourne Hotel, a new and costly edifice, has recently been erected by him. On the fields his mining interests are extensive. Thousands of shares in different claims and concerns are held by him, and at the present moment he has a prospecting party in Cue, equipped and paid by himself. He has been repeatedly invited on the directorate of mines, but pressure of business has compelled him to refuse. He is proud of Western Australia, and has made his permanent home in this part of the continent. Mr. De Baun's generosity is unbounded, and his sympathy is equalled only by his charitable tendencies. Strong of will, tenacious in purpose, and consistent in duty, he is a man of solid character, full of striking individuality. With all this there is also a fund of modest reserve in his disposition. Ill-starred fortune he has borne like a man and fought like a hero, and now in his prosperous and felicitous moments he accepts the favours of smiling morn with a placid equanimity which at once despises conceit and condemns pride.

DORHAM LONGFORD DOOLETTE.

HEN Jason and his merry band of Argonauts—the flower of Grecian youth—set out on their voyage to the land of the Golden Fleece, an adventure dear to classic memory was given to the pages of mythology. Of the stupendous tasks they had to perform we all know. Their way was on every side beset with difficulties; but like true heroes of mythology they surmounted them, and returned from Colchis in triumph with the coveted prize. The search for things golden has ever been associated with hardship and peril. And surely we may find the counterparts of Jason's journey in modern times. When the Western goldfields broke out, many young Australians went to the front and led the way in opening up the vast resources of the colony. Among them was Mr. D. L. Doolette, who was born at Adelaide, and went from college to the University for a few years. He came to the West in the van of the gold-seekers, and proceeded to the present site of Kalgoorlie. He worked there for six months, "reefing," during which period he opened up the Golden Horseshoe and several other properties in close proximity to the Great Boulder and Lake View mines. With the nomadic instincts of the gold hunter, he followed up every "rush" with unflagging consistency. Mr. Doolette's luck was not always so sensational as his experiences. He was one of the many men who went to the Siberia and the Kurnalpi "rushes," and the terrible sufferings endured by those who tramped to those places forms a tragic chapter in the history of the Coolgardie fields. Mr. Doolette resolved to break fresh ground, and set out on an extensive prospecting tour in May, 1894, with Mr. C. Northmore, for the grim back country. These two gentlemen went through the Ninety-Mile and on to Mount Malcolm, discovering on the way Niagara, then known as the Waterfall. They prospected the country fairly well, but did not find any good mining properties just then. From Mount Malcolm they journeyed to Lake Darlot, Lake Way, and on to Earlstone Creek. Their efforts to find anything rich were not successful, although they had managed to strike gold in many places. After prospecting for eight months, they returned to Coolgardie, but did not long rest at leisure. Early in 1895, the adventurous pair went out again, this time accompanied by Mr. J. Timms, who decided to cast in his lot with them. Striking for Niagara, they carried out a plan of systematic prospecting, with the result that several good properties were found, the first being the Port Pirie. Just when the trio were doing the best, Mr. Timms sickened of typhoid fever, and his companions were conveying him to the Coolgardie Hospital when the poor fellow died at the Ninety-Mile, where he was afforded the best burial that the primitive conditions of life could give. Messrs. Doolette and Northmore once more set their faces in the direction of Niagara, having been joined by Mr. G. W. Bagot. Arriving at Niagara, the prospecting work was extended afield, and the Challenge and the Golden Monarch and other properties, now belonging to the Challenge Gold Estates and the Niagara Proprietary companies, were found. The best of these at the present time are the Sapphire, Lady Betty, and the Port Pirie mines. In the midst of their success, Messrs. Doolette and Northmore lost by death their friend and companion, Mr. Bagot, who took typhoid fever the day the Challenge was found. He died within a week.

Being men of good commercial ability, Messrs. Doolette and