Paddy Hannan from Kalgoorlie from the wilds of Western Australia, was a gold prospector. Born in Co. Clare, Ireland, he and two mates discovered gold near Mount Charlotte near the Coolgardie goldfields not far from Kalgoorlie. In 1904, at the age of 61, having prospected for all his adult life, Hannan was granted an annual pension of £150 by the Government of Western Australia.  Six years later, he ceased his prospecting activities and moved across the nation to the other side of Australia to live with his  two nieces in Brunswick, Victoria, where he lived until he died there in 1925.

Unlike other gold prospectors, the main street and a suburb in Kalgoorlie both bear his name; and in 1929 a statue of him by sculptor John MacLeod, was erected (see above). But, despite his success,  it is the people back in his hometown in Quin, County Clare in the Republic of Ireland who have also remembered him, by dedicating a plaque to his memory opposite the Quin Abbey.

And every time I see or hear the name Paddy, I think of Paddy Hannan, and I cannot help but start to sing: “With a knick-knack, paddy whack, Give a dog a bone; This old man came rolling home”. And in this case with Paddy Hannan, he did!

For further items see my Street Sculpture page

Website | About | Facebook | Twitter

“Is It Art?”