A statue dedicated to a Clareman who set off one of the biggest gold rushes in Australian history, has been vandalised.
Police in Kalgoorlie in the west of the country have arrested and charged a man who is alleged to have decapitated the statue of gold prospector Paddy Hannan from Quin, Co Clare.
Hannan sparked the world renowned gold rush of 1893 in an area 550kms east of Perth in Western Australia. The area, known as The Golden Mine, remains one of the richest goldfields in the world.
Hannan made his discovery in June 1893 while travelling through the bush with friends Thomas Flanagan from Ennis and Tipperary man Dan Shea. They were following a new rush to the east of Coolgardie at the time.
On June 10th that year, along a track through the bush, the trio found gold near the surface of the dry soil. In the space of a week, the three men dug up the equivalent of several years wages.
On June 17th, Â Hannan rode his horse to Coolgardie with about 100 ounces (3.1 kg) of gold to stake his claim. Once that news broke, the now famous rush to Kalgoorlie began and was the greatest in the history of the country.
Th find resulted in the establishment of a settlement called Hannan’s which became the foundation for the development of the twin cities of Kalgoorlie and Boulder. Hannan’s remains a suburb of Kalgoorlie.
In July of 1897, Paddy Hannan returned as a visitor to Kalgoorlie where he was recognised and entertained officially by the mayor.
He was driven in a coach drawn by five horses for a tree planting ceremony at the spot where he had first camped in 1893 and found his first gold. The original tree has not survived but the latest replacement was planted in 1993, on the centenary of Paddy’s discovery.
A statue was also commissioned in his honour some years later. Sculpted by John McLeod in 1929 the statue/fountain had been displayed in the foyer of Kalgoorlie Town Hall until 2001 when it was moved to the Mining Hall of Fame.
The replica statue, certified by The National Trust, was erected in 1983 and now sits outside Kalgoorlie’s Town Hall on the city’s main street also named after Hannan. It was produced by sculptor Peter Gelencser.
Police in Kalgoorlie-Boulder confirmed that the head was removed from the famous statue late on Wednesday night local time. The head was later found nearby by local paramedics, who returned it to the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder offices on Thursday morning.
Late on Thursday (local time), police confirmed they had charged the 38-year-old with one count of unlawful damage. He is expected to appear in court at a later date.
