Who are we?

Area Covered

The Goldfields Land and Sea Council has a jurisdiction over the lands that extend from Wiluna (on the edge of the Great Central Desert), to Esperance on Australia's southern coast. The GLSC also has jurisdiction over the sea adjacent to its south coast boundary, extending to the edge of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone. 

Much of the land area is dry, arid country with low-rolling scrub and a horizon of red dirt. It is largely unpolluted and desolately empty by European standards.

The GLSC's land area is bigger than Texas, the Australian state of Victoria, and England. It takes nearly ten hours to drive across. For western civilisation, it is a harsh, dry land, but still largely unspoiled and beautiful. Of course, Aboriginal people see it as both their home and their heritage.

Western civilisation came to the eastern central portion of Western Australia in the 1890s when miners flocked to the Eastern Goldfields, which remains one of the world's richest gold-producing areas.

Gold mining is centred around the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, which is also where the Goldfields Land and Council is headquartered. The Golden Mile, which runs alongside the town, is dotted with headframes and excavations. Life hangs on the water supply which is piped 600km from Perth. In summer, when temperatures often hit 45 degrees centigrade, residents commonly have their use of water restricted.

As its name suggests, gold is the biggest industry in the Goldfields region. This isn't just restricted to physically mining gold, but also to its exploration. Gold exploration takes in wide areas of land and as such is most likely to have an impact with traditional land owners. There is also a large nickel mining industry in the region.  

Some pastoral operations fall within the GLSC's boundaries. While it is possible to run sheep or cattle on some country, the low rainfall and hot conditions means that these pastoral pursuits also require large areas.

There are several other smaller towns within the GLSC's boundaries, such as Leonora, Norseman and Leinster. Most of these have been built to house workers for mining or the pastoral industry.

At the extreme south of the GLSC's jurisdiction the rainfall increases significantly. Land is used for broadacre wheat farming around the town of Esperance. Esperance is built on the southern coast and has roles as a small port for the export of livestock and nickel concentrate, and as homeport for a fishing fleet.

Esperance is much cooler than the rest of the Eastern Goldfields, which in the northern area can reach temperatures of 50⁰C in summer.

Given the size of the GLSC's region, and the diversity of industries, it is little surprise that the region's Aboriginal people, who take their identity from the land, are also diverse. While all belong to a group described as 'desert people', there are broad deviations in language and custom.