Thompson gold diggings, Mary River Goldfield, Halls Creek Shire, Western Australia, Australiai

Regional Level Types
Thompson gold diggings	Diggings
Mary River Goldfield	Ore Field
Halls Creek Shire	Shire
Western Australia	State
Australia	Country

Briefly in the late 1940's, a correspondent wrote to the Carnarvon Times about the going-ons in Halls Creek. It notes briefly there are twenty alluvial prospectors working the Thompson Diggings, most of indigenous heritage. What this demonstrates is after the initial gold rush in the late 1880's, the field was probably more active than thought. The writer found virtually no news about the goldfield as a whole after 1887, let alone individual sites. The article proceeds to advise a small battery is being erected by Arthur Muggleton, having been purchased from Jimmy Mullins. Two years later it is mentioned 'Darkie' Roelands has ore ready to crush in a small battery at the location. He is 84 years old, in fact old enough that he could have been around during the initial gold rush to the area.

The area is 3 kilometres south of the Mary River battery tailings, or 2 kilometres west of the Tanami Road. Access is 200 metres west of the tailings heap, taking the south track at the cross intersection. This soon passes a dam wall, and continues south. The track crosses the Thompson Creek, and then the southern branch. Between here and the Six Mile Creek is much bulldozer work bordering the track. There could be other alluvial diggings and mines in the area. Access can also be found by heading west along a track from the Tanami Road, at the termite mound with a plastic bottle embedded in it.

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