WA School of Mines Mineral Museum Overview

WA School of Mines Mineral Museum

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Be mesmerised by minerals.

More than just rocks of the region, this collection is a learning tool, with mineral specimens from all around the world, housed in a beautiful heritage building. The minerals include sulphides, like pyrite or fool’s gold; carbonates such as calcspar and dolomite; and native elements such as graphite. Unfortunately, there are no diamonds in the collection! The mineral samples were used as teaching aids at the WA School of Mines, which first opened in Coolgardie in 1902, and then relocated to Kalgoorlie a few years later.

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Address:

117 Egan Street
Kalgoorlie WA 6430
Australia

Tel:

(08) 9088 6170

Email:

WASM-MECEAdministration@curtin.edu.au

Opening Hours

Mon to Fri 9am - 4:30pm

Pyrite from Broad Arrow

Listen to the rocks talk

Minerals like galena and pyrite were used as conductors in early crystal radios. If you wrap chicken wire around a large pyrite sample and shape it into a dish, you can pick up radio waves. It is as...

Malachite from Murin Murin

Viridescent deposit

Malachite, a carbonate of copper, is one of the oldest known green pigments. Malachite was used as an indicator of the presence of copper. This sample is from the Anaconda copper mine near Murin Murin...

Staurolite

Twinning

Staurolite, a silicate, is used in geology as an 'index mineral'. This means it is used to estimate depth, temperature and pressure changes to rock, like movement of the earth’s crust or magma...

Koorda and Districts Museum and Historical Society

A museum in the heart of corn dolly country

This is a diverse collection for such a small town, lovingly maintained by a group of volunteers. The Museum is laid out like the old Koorda & Districts Centennial Hospital, and even includes the...

Northam Heritage Centre: Northam and Districts Historical Society and Northam Army Camp Heritage Association

Historic railway station captures Northam’s history

Northam’s old railway station remains in such good condition that it’s easy to imagine it as it was from its earliest days in 1900. The station formed part of the Eastern Goldfields Railway which, at...

Minnivale Rail and Heritage Centre

A collection of rail carriages in a disused wheatbin

Have you ever wondered what was inside the large silver wheat bins which litter the Wheatbelt landscape? Wonder no more! Step inside a decommissioned wheatbin which houses a collection of rail...

Merredin Railway Station Museum and Historical Society Overview

Merredin Museum and Historical Society Incorporated

A railway museum inside an old railway station building.

Stand on the railway platform which once welcomed steam and diesel passenger trains. Imagine a time when rail travel was the cheapest and easiest way to travel. Be immersed in the fascinating history...