A miner's dream - mineshafts that surfaced under a pub bar
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (391608)
Rockingham, Australia
November 15, 2026 6:46am CST
When we were in Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, our tram ride took us past the Metropole Hotel (pictured). The hotel was built in 1899 but was damaged in an earthquake in 2010. It was looking pretty sad when we saw it.
Another historic hotel was the Boulder Block Hotel. This was demolished in 1991 to make way for the expansion of the Super Pit.
Both the Boulder Block and the Metropole had mineshafts which surfaced under the main bar. It’s said that miners would knock on the trapdoor during their lunch-break and order a beer or two.
The Metropole mineshaft was apparently only discovered in 2002 and a glass panel was placed over the opening. The category-two heritage-listed building is now up for sale. I can imagine it was pretty spectacular in its day.
Photo credit: Kalgoorlie Miner, Neil Watkinson
7 people like this
6 responses
@marguicha (231010)
• Chile
2h
These buildings should be restored. In my country, many wonderful buildings full of history have been sold, demolished and now awful new skyscrapers stand there instead.
@Juliaacv (57992)
• Canada
1h
That would make for such an interesting museum if they repaired it to live up to safety codes.
I was a patient in a hospital back in the 1970's, here in London, Ontario.
It was downtown, and space was limited.
There was a main hospital, Victoria Hospital across the street, and in the early 1920's and they built a 3 story hospital for children. But the children's hospital was only that, just a massive children's ward if you will. They had their own kitchen and laundry, but no OR suites nor any diagnostics departments, as few as those were in those days.
They built a tunnel under the street to get the young patients across to the main hospital.
The nurses would line up the gurneys in a long row and all get on the end and they would push together. It actually was something to be in that row seeing the lights on the ceiling come and go as you passed under them.
Today, they are remaking that hospital into an apartment type of a building. It has a great neighbourhood feel to the area.
