Media: BOOK - paperback, 226 pages
Author: J. Tregurtha
Year: 1996
ISBN: 0859052125
Other: b&w photos, sketches
Publisher: Hesperian Press

James Edmund Tregurtha was born on 22 April 1867 at Deniliquin, New South Wales, to James Bryant ant Frances Marguarite Tregurtha. He was apprenticed at fifteen to a blacksmith in Runnymeade (Elmore), Victoria.

In 1888 he headed to the Croydon fields from where he left for the Pilbara goldfield of Western Australia, and on to the Eastern goldfields where he was successful in his search for gold. In 1896 he undertook an epic journey from Oodnadatta to Coolgardie via the Warburton Ranges. Ventures in New Guinea at the Yukon in 1898 were failures but on his return to Western Australia he found Burtville in 1899.

He settled in Pingelly in 1902 as a wheelwright and blacksmith, retiring to Highgate Hill (Perth) in 1912. At the age of forty-seven he enlisted in the 3rd Pioneers and served in France where he was wounded. Returning to Perth he was again involved in property investment and prospecting, and led and expedition to the Warburton Ranges in 1921.

He shifted to Nedlands in 1929 and became a frequent contributor to 'The Western Mail', detailing his experiences and the lives of his prospector mates.

J.E. Tregurtha died aged ninety-two years. This book is based on his diary for 1890-1922, as well as his articles that were published in 'The Western Mail' and other newspapers.

Contents:
Croydon (Post Hole Jack)
Mates
Westward Ho
Cossack
A New Chum's First Rush
Rabbit Foot Luck
Long Jack
Jimmy Whalin
Early Nannine
Memories of Nannine
Gold Specimens
Thirst
Early Mount Magnet
Early Days (part)
Lake Austin
The Shepherd's Puzzle Rush
On Peak Hill
The Path Finders
Dry Stages
Hopes and Disappointments
Bushmanship
Grant's Patch and Cashman's Find
The Broad Arrow
Original Names
More Nicknames
The Billy Can Rush
Kurnalpi and Kanowna
Siberia
Pigweed Harry
Afghans and Bacon
Experiences Seeking Gold
More Desert Waters
Jackie
Early Days
Prospecting in '93 - John Meiklejohn
Broad Arrow
Dunn's Find
Bull's Waterloo
The Old Camp
Lonely Graves
Lonely Grave at Mount Ida
All in a Day
The Darlot Rush
A Dry Trip
Night Out
Wanderings of a Bohemian - Anon.
A Tough Trip
Pioneers
Mates
Mates
Black Gentlemen
The Early Days
Luck
Incidents by the Way
Week-end Browny
Leaves from a Prospector's Diary
Desert Water
Another Overland Trip - Anon.
Incidents by the Way
Klondyke Trail
Sleeping Partners
Mount Morgan - Anon.
Dreams
Arid Country
German Jack
An Evening in Old Burtville
Burtville Town
When the Desert Blooms
On Burtville
A Story of Great Disappointment
Morning Coffee
Burtville Bit - Anon.
Burtville
List of Burials at Burtville Cemetery
Two Mount Ida Mines
The Coolgardie Tragedy
Trip to Warburton Range
Carr Boyd and Hann
The Watisit - Carr Boyd's Extraordinary Animal
Secret of the Petermann Range
Honour List
The Honour List - Gus Luck
Men Who Made the West
Wild Life
Leader and Other Gold
The Evolution of the Dryblower
Notes on Tregurthas on the Goldfields
Billy Frost - The Prospector's Prospector
A W.A. Prospector in West Africa - W. Frost
News of an Old Prospector
The Finish of Billy Frost - John Drayton
Notes