Norseman - a town named after a horse
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (325737)
Rockingham, Australia
March 17, 2017 5:40am CST
After writing about the Queensland, Australia, town called Banana which was named after a bullock, I remembered that Norseman in Western Australia was named after a horse.
The horse whose full name was Hardy Norseman was tethered to a tree overnight. He was restless and pawed at the ground as horses do when they are impatient. In the process Norseman uncovered a piece of gold-bearing quartz.
Since then, over 5 million ounces of gold have been mined from the area.
Norseman is between Coolgardie and Esperance. It is the last major West Australian town before the South Australian border. Gold was discovered in 1892. The Norseman Gold Mine is Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation.
Norseman is also the site of Hole No. 14 of the Nullarbor Links, an 18-hole par 73 gold course, touted as the 'world's longest golf course. Eighteen holes are spread along the 1,365 kms of the Eyre Highway which passes through both Western Australia and South Australia. The official opening was in 2009.
The map is from Wikimedia: By Mark [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)].
14 people like this
13 responses
@allknowing (130066)
• India
17 Mar 17
This horse truly deserves to be remembered.
2 people like this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
17 Mar 17
the horse that discovered gold, that's a cool bit of history!
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
19 Mar 17
@JudyEv horses, new rare metals finders, had no idea
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325737)
• Rockingham, Australia
19 Mar 17
@Jessicalynnt Well, only two found precious metals - that I know of anyway.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325737)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Mar 17
A horse in Germany did something similar and dug up a huge piece of silver. I documented it here:
In 2015 we travelled parts of Europe in a motor-home. By August we were in Goslar which is where my great, great, great, great grandfather was born. By...
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
17 Mar 17
great story - I expect Norseman's owner was amazed when his horse made him rich overnight
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
17 Mar 17
@JudyEv I remember a friend from when he and I were 9 decided to go gold prospecing in the park near our houses - he gave up after half an hour, deciding that someone had beat him to it lol
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325737)
• Rockingham, Australia
5 Apr 17
Hopefully. If he'd been within earshot and pawing the ground all night, he probably got a lot of abuse before that. 
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
17 Mar 17
That is one thi g I remember learning about there many yrs ago while in school ... I would love to come visit Australia.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325737)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Mar 17
I am really surprised this was taught to you. I don't think it was taught to us. 
@silvermist (19702)
• India
17 Mar 17
@JudyEv Thanks for that and other interesting stories (actually historical) connected to Australia.
1 person likes this
@Morleyhunt (21737)
• Canada
17 Mar 17
Place names can be fascinating to research. Our town was originally called Humberstone....because the stones were carried to get across the bog.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
17 Mar 17
What? No town named Phar Lap?
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (325737)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Mar 17
You buy a card at either end of the course then when you get to each one you play the hole and get it stamped by someone. I might do a post on it as it is quite interesting.
