The late president of the Welsh Mining History Society helped me greatly when I was setting out on my MPhil thesis which is now drawing to a close.I'm just so sorry he didn't get to read it. The subject is actually ANOTHER George W Hall 1855-1915, a Swansea newspaper editor and amateur geologist who gave up his job to become a partner of W Pritchard Morgan, the 'Welsh Gold King'. Around 1894 he was company secretary of the British Gold Field Company, Morgan's company running Gwynfynydd at the time.
He went to Western Australia in 1895 and the following year bought a claim near Leonora, that he developed into the Sons of Gwalia mine. After flotation it developed into the second most profitable and longest lived mine in that State, producing non-stop until 1963, then reopened by the Loring brothers, and after their company crash, restarted over the past decade by the Saint Barbara company. 14 km of tunnels at the bottom of a massive open pit.
Hall became a very rich man at the flotation but never had that luck again, though he pioneered the massive mine at Wiluna which Claude de Bernales later developed.

He came back to Wales and managed the Gwynfynydd and the Prince Edward mines for Morgan from 1910-11 on before being killed by falling off the path at Pistyll Cain into the ravine of the Mawddach in 1915.

If any one has any info on him, over the next few months I'd be glad to hear about it. I'm stiil editing the thesis, so it can change!

I have seen some correspondence between 'our' GWH and the family of GWH 1855-1915. I will hunt through the GWH archive and find it. Give me a couple of days. [email protected]

When you complete the thesis (I wish you well!) and after it has been accepted, you may wish to consider publishing a summary in the Journal of Australasian Mining History (its editor, Mel Davies, is also Welsh.

There are a number of potential UK outlets for papers deriving from your research, including the Welsh Mines Society journal - contact Dave Linton, the editor, as the theme of the next issue will be the research interests of 'our' G.W.Hall - which seems most appropriate.

May I enquire which university you are with?

I'm a member of the Australasian Mining History Association and am in touch with Mel. I'll certainly be sending something to him after completion, and have promised to send Dave Linton something also, back in 2012, when I started all this.

I'm registered with Cardiff University, under supervision of Professor Bill Jones, whose major field is emigrants from Wales - you may be familiar with his work on the Welsh communities in Ballarat.

When I get a chance I'm also going to follow up my coal mining relations, who left Hirwaun for first Como Lower coal mines in Colorado, and then for Colliefields, WA, before ending in NSW, first in Thirroul and then at New Greta. They were John Evans, his son, T J Evans, and following John Evans as manager, his wife's cousin Rees Bevan. But first let me finish on my George W Hall!

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