Menzies: See
For such a small town, the places of interest in Menzies are surprisingly informative. Almost every building has an information board explaining the history and significance of what you are looking at. Dotted around the streets at relevant places are larger than life-size metal silhouette figures of miners, bakers, police, prostitutes and priests captioned with quotes from past residents that give a voice to bloodless names and dates.
1 Former Lady Shenton Hotel, Cnr Shenton and Brown St. With a graceful façade befitting its name, this was the pre-eminent hotel during Menzies' golden years. The stonewalled rear section forms its humble beginnings in 1896. The foundations are said to conceal a time capsule containing coins and a newspaper. The hotel built its reputation and was extended several times under successive owners who, despite the hotel's sterling reputation, ended their tenure in bankruptcy. A fire in 1902 sparked a significant addition of the brick street frontage, including five bedrooms and a billiard room. The town's declining fortunes took the hotel down with it and it ceased trade in 1922. The visitors centre occupies the building now.
2 Original Menzies Hotel, Cnr Shenton and Brown St. The first hotel in town and the only one to have never caught fire. Now a private residence.
3 Old bakers oven, Shenton St (in the vacant lot on the right of the Menzies Hotel). No one is certain when the oven was built, only that a succession of owners kept it in use until the 1940s. The tin shed bakehouse and accompanying store are long gone, leaving only a disintegrating block of bricks hung with a heavy iron door that must have seen a lot of loaves come out of it over the years.
4 Former Railway Hotel (Menzies Hotel), 22 Shenton St. The last original pub left standing. It was renamed in 1990 but operated as the Railway Hotel since at least 1896. The present building is the hotel's second iteration – built after the original wood and corrugated iron structure burnt down in 1902. It was known for having the cheapest beer in town – a reputation it still holds today due only to a lack of competition.
5 Railway Station, Walsh St. When the rail line was extended north from Kalgoorlie in 1898 the sizeable railway station was quickly built and for a while was the head of the line. Under the long green roof were separate offices for the station master and clerk, a lady's waiting room, public toilets, parcel room and ticket office divided by a central arched entrance. The local newspaper criticised its extravagance. Nonetheless it was opened with much fanfare and brought in many goods, people and wealth to Menzies. The station stayed in service but declined over the years, finally receiving its last train in 1974. The building is now used by a mining company who've locked it away behind a fence to keep visitors off the junk they are storing there, but you can walk around the perimeter and along the platform edge for a pretty good look. …