The Town of Norseman, Australia

In the end I worked in town of Norseman, Western Australia for five months.  Luckily I had enough hours on the job to keep me occupied because there wasn't much else to do in town.

My first thought upon learning about Norseman was, why the name?  There are a ton of odd town names in Australia - Toowoomba, Wagga Wagga, Woolloomooloo, Maroochydore - but most of them have Aboriginal origins.  Norseman, as I soon learned, was the name of Lawrence Sinclair's horse.  In 1894 Sinclair stumbled upon gold in the area.  As legend has it, his horse kicked up a gold nugget with its hoof.  A gold rush was already on around Kalgoorlie, and prospectors soon flooded into the area seeking riches (the wiki page has a short blurb about the town).

on the edge of nowhere: Norseman, WA

Norseman, the eponymous horse whose owner founded the town.

Norseman Gold, a mine next to the town, is the longest continuously running gold mining operation in Australia.  The current company has extracted over 5 million ounces of gold from the local mines.  Although the mine is technically still up and running, much of the activity is just maintenance work.  Most of its inner workings are pretty hush hush, but from what I could gather not much gold is is being mined.  Their website says the company is currently suspended from the Australian Stock Exchange.

Part of the Norseman Gold mining complex

As production waxes and wanes, so too do the fortunes of the town.  Back in the 1970's and 80's the population of Norseman was several thousand.  As of 2006 it was 853, and since the mine as fallen on hard times I'd guess it is even less today.  Considering less than 1,000 people live in Norseman, the town is actually quite spread out.  A lot of homes are either abandoned, for sale, or their owners primarily live elsewhere.

The main street in Norseman has an IGA supermarket, hardware store, bank, newsstand, cafe, tourist center, and pub with a drive through bottle shop (alcohol can only be purchased at liquor stores in Australia).  Half of the buildings on the main street are closed down, although the shops do get decent crowds from travelers passing through.  Outside of the main drag there is also a police station, auto repair shop, community center, post office, and local school.

Main drag with the supermarket, pub, cafe, hardware store, pharmacy, and bank

Norseman post office

the community center

If the town sounds depressing then I'm giving a pretty accurate explanation.  Not only are there abandoned businesses and houses, but most buildings look shoddy.  In response to new gold discoveries, the town has been moved several times during its history.  Many buildings have corrugated iron roofs and flimsy siding.  The style may make for cheaper construction, but it definitely isn't pleasing to the eye.

Some of the not so appealing houses in Norseman:

Aside from gold mining the other thing keeping the town going is tourism.  It's not a tourist destination, thank God, but a convenient place to stop on the way to something more exciting.  I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: Australia is sparsely populated.  Most Aussies live in coastal cities, but apart from those the rest of the country is a whole lot of open space.  Heading from the eastern states to Perth, the only sizable city in the west, there is only one highway to take.  And as it turns out that highway runs through Norseman.

I should add a caveat: the Eyre Highway, or the great East-West Australia highway, is actually a two lane road.  Travelers expecting a modern freeway will be disappointed.  Trucks, caravans, and a few cross-country road trippers make the journey, but there really isn't any need for more than two lanes.  If you want to get from Melbourne to Perth, for example, it's much quicker and easier just to fly.  With all the gas, accommodation, and food money, driving is also much more expensive.

Despite the conveniences of flying we did get a steady stream of people stopping in Norseman who were driving out to Perth or back east.  The tourists, truckers, and contractors who stayed at the motel or stopped into the BP at least kept things busy.

There was usually a steady stream of caravans along the Eyre Highway

One positive I can think of when it comes to Norseman (aside from the well paying job) is the weather.  The winter nights got cold - in the 40s or even 30s - but during the day it would often reach 60 (over 15 Celsius).  September was warmer, and by October many days reached the 70s and even 80s.  As the weather warmed up most days were also sunny.  

The one drawback though was the damn flies.  Starting in September you couldn't go outside for more than 60 seconds without a bunch of pesky flies buzzing around your eyes, ears, and mouth.  Try as I might they wouldn't leave me the hell alone!

Another, and probably the only other plus, was the geography surrounding the town.  Norseman was situated between large salt lake on one side and the gold-producing hills owned by the mine on the other.  The area is arid, but not quite arid enough to be a desert.  Despite the low level of precipitation trees of 20-30 feet in height are common.  Almost no grass grows naturally, but small shrubs and bushes also dot the landscape.  The dirt, a reddish-brown color, is naturally soft and great for running or hiking.

A bit of the surrounding landscape:

It wasn't the most beautiful scenery I'd ever seen, but it was certainly unlike anywhere else I had lived.  Before the flies got too bad I was able to go on a few long hikes past the salt lake and around the hills to the east of the town.

Just writing about Norseman makes me glad to be back in Ohio!  Well it was a worthwhile experience (the money sure helped) but I definitely wouldn't want to live there permanently!