Nuggetty Gully, Halls Creek Goldfield, Halls Creek Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Nuggetty Gully	Gully
Halls Creek Goldfield	Ore Field
Halls Creek Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

An alluvial gold area along the north trending Nuggetty Gully, which starts just north of the Faugh-a-Ballagh mine, and continues north for 5 kilometres to the Elvirie River, auriferous the entire way. 20 kilometres east of Halls Creek, and 4 kilometres north of the Duncan Road. Its name is suggestive of past gold discoveries.

Little is noted on Mindat for prospector activities. Many old prospectors do not inhabit the internet, and even less are interested in the public knowing about their activities at the locations.

Niven Dallas established an air charter and vechile hire business in Kununurra, shortly after the Ord River Scheme was established. This had begun with a research station opened in the 1940's, then the Ord River Diversion Dam constructed in 1963, with thirty farms growing cotton with the irrigated water shortly after. The crops provided a ready food source for the local insect population, with the crops failing. Progress continued however, with the opening of the Argyle Dam in 1972, forming Australia's largest lake by volume. Today a variety of tropical crops are grown across a 117 square kilometre area, with plans in the near future to expand to 440 square kilometres.

The scheme, set in the wilds of the Kimberley drew adventurers, colourful characters, and those willing to gamble on establishing new businesses. Several came from America.

Dallas in his book makes mention of several of these through the 1970's and 1980's, some relating to the Halls Creek Goldfield.

Stuart Skoglund was an American with a lease at Nuggetty Gully during the late 1980's. He had pioneered fixed wing crop dusting, and mustering with helicopters in the area. Over a period of about seven months, he was flying the prospecting party with his Bell helicopter from Kununurra to their prospecting camp at Nuggetty Gully. Dallas hints they may have found many nuggets, but as is the nature of these things, everything was kept secret.

Another American Max Lamoreaux, with bulldozers, and Jack Wrightman with trucks made-up the rest of the prospecting party. During the prospecting period at the lease, all three came unstuck nearly costing their lives, reflecting in different ways the dangers of this rugged environment. Skoglund lost his right arm in a traffic accident between Halls Creek and Kununurra. Lamoreaux was retrieving his Stetson, which had been blown off his head, while mustering. A bull lunged at him, the horn piecing his left eye, and into his brain. He survived just, but the effects were lasting for life. Wrightman was changing a tyre on a digger. Too much air had been pumped into the tyre, and it exploded, the noise heard all over Halls Creek. He was flung several metres backwards and suffered severe injuries.

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