Portrait of Paddy Hannan

People/prospector

Paddy Hannan

Paddy Hannan (1840–1925), prospector, from Ireland. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

With Thomas Flanagan and Dan O'Shea he found gold near Mount Charlotte in June 1893 and on 17 June rode to Coolgardie with about 100 ounces to file a reward claim.1,2,3

Legacy

Kalgoorlie grew from the rush to 'Hannans'. Its main street carries his name and has a bronze statue of him.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. June 1893Hannan finds gold at Kalgoorlie4
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Where next

People

Partner ofThomas FlanaganTwo Irishmen and a third mate found Australia's richest goldfield in a week.1Partner ofDan O'SheaHe gave a stranger an equal share, and the stranger got a goldfield.1

Mines

DiscoveredGolden Mile, Kalgoorlie-BoulderGold worth several years' wages in a week, then 1,400 men within seven days.1

Events

LedHannan finds gold at KalgoorliePaddy Hannan is part of this story: Hannan finds gold at Kalgoorlie.4

Sources

  1. Patrick Hannan (Mining and Energy Western Australia exhibition) State Library of Western Australia
  2. Paddy Hannan Wikidata
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum

Pictures on this page: Paddy Hannan.jpg, Library Information Service of Western Australia (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.