Leonora

Leonora is a small town in the Goldfields of Western Australia.
It is approximately 2 hours (230km)from Kalgoorlie on a lonely road only alleviated by the even smaller town of Menzies which is about 1 hour from Kalgoorlie. Leonora is on the crossroads, sort of a 't' shape where the road goes on to Leinster, a slightly more modern mining town or Laverton in the opposite direction on the road to the central desert and many small communities.
This is a very dry country, the temperature was a minimum of 4 degrees and a maximum of 17 degrees today.

The town has a small amount of tourism from the Gwalia historic mining part of town and the Historic Hoover house. (named after Herbert Hoover, US president who worked there around the turn of the 20th Century as an engineer and this was his home) I believe you can stay there. Population of approx.1500. Two hotels, 1 motel, 350 houses.

I have been to this town a couple of times,a visit to the school when i worked in another area and stopped for a drink on the way to Leinster. Like all small towns,there is a lot community spirit. However if you are new and unsure of the culture it may take a while to feel at home.

Its actually in the middle of nowhere, much like Christmas Island, really.

This week the Australian Government relocated a number of Asylum seekers, families, to a disued mining camp in the town. Media took photos of them behind their fence. Children were in the paper on the front page as, "child looks through fence" or some such. Apparently you have no rights as a child in this situation.
It must be horrific to be flown from the middle of the ocean to the middle of a desert, and then be on show like something in a zoo.

Apparently it is old news at this end of the week, and is forgotten now.
I haven't forgotten and I hope that the good souls of this small town deal with this situation with care and if they are able, support these families, whatever the outcome of their applications.

@kalgrl