Widgiemooltha Golden Eagle Nugget

The ‘Golden Eagle Nugget’ is an interesting replica of a famous discovery and it can be found at the side of the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway in the now mostly abandoned town of Widgiemooltha, Western Australia. On January 15, 1931, a local 16-year-old named Jimmy Larcombe was working on his father’s field when he struck gold with his pick. What was found was an incredible nugget that measured 66 centimeters long, 29 centimeters tall, and 6.4 centimeters thick—the largest ever found in Western Australia.

The discovery of this lucrative find,  later named the Golden Eagle Nugget, sparked a gold rush mostly to the locality of Larkinville. Around this time there was an economic depression in the area and the discovery brought great investment and migration of those in search of a similarly lucrative find. The hunt for gold continued for many years and in the 1960s there was a similar boom for nickel mining.  

The Golden Eagle was given its name due to its rough resemblance to the iconic bird, with the diameter said to represent large outspread wings. It was sold to the Australian State Government for £5,438 and melted down to raise vital funds for the state. The model of this famous find was made at a scale of 4.7:1, and can be found on the grounds of the Widgiemooltha Tavern & Roadhouse, where the fascinating story of the gold mining history is told.