Suddenly, a Market - The Gold Rush Era

One of the first, local, sources of food exploited when Europeans arrived to settle in western Australia was fish. Indeed, fish remains the most common item of food still consumed by both First Nations people and those who have arrived more recently to make Australia their home. In WA, commercial fish canneries were established in Mandurah as far back as the 1880s but when the gold boom started in the early 1890s the demand for fresh fish in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie quickly outstripped the ability of the existing industry to meet supply. Ice harvesting for food conservation had been going on in Europe and north America for decades but, for obvious reasons, was not entirely practicable in WA. However, an ice works had been built in Sydney in 1861 and the technology had proven successful in the export of meat from the colonies to Europe. So, iceworks were established in WA and large quantities of fish were brought to the goldfields from Fremantle and Esperance packed on ice, as depicted in this model, in insulated vans. Truly, if necessity is the mother of invention, then need leads to the adaptation of invention.

The engine room at Western Ice cold stores, 19 November 1953.
Credit: State Library of Western Australia, 242523PD