in the 1887 season, and also purchased the schooner John S. Lane and four luggers. The time arrived when it was necessary for them to start out, and when they got some distance from the central station the weather became thick and stormy, with every indication of a hurricane, and Mr. Price determined to put into the nearest bay for shelter. Then was experienced the most disastrous hurricane chronicled in Western Australian history. The day after his arrival Mr. Price encountered the full force of the gale, which blew with unabated fury for two days, and carried devastation to the pearling fleets. The masts of his vessels were snapped as though they had been matchwood. The chain cables parted, and Mr. Price's little fleet drifted at the pleasure of the hurricane. He was in the schooner at the time, which, mastless, and beyond his control, was driven out nearly 200 miles from land. Every moment almost they expected the vessel to founder or to strike some unknown rocks, and no more dangerous position could well be imagined. Happily, he escaped destruction for, as the weather cleared, he met two pearl luggers which had missed the worst of the hurricane, and they towed the schooner back again to the bay. On arrival there, Mr. Price found two of his luggers broken on the rocks, while the other two were very much damaged. A great part of the north west-coast pearling fleet was destroyed by this dreadful storm, and it was estimated that 300 lives were lost. The greatest anxiety existed in the minds of the public of Perth as to the fate of the pearlers, and the Government chartered the steamers Australind and Otway to go out in search of disabled vessels and their suffering crews. The steamers only succeeded in securing a dismasted schooner named the Serapasa, which was towed to Cossack. The schooner had previously picked up a Malay, who for two days had floated on the hatch of a foundered lugger. His breast was torn, and, suffering intensely, he soon died from his privations.
In 1888 Mr. Price retired from the pearling industry, after having lost heavily during the last two years. He now embarked in other businesses, and in the latter part of 1888 chartered the brigantine Bessie, with which he took a cargo of horses to Mauritius, and returning took another cargo to Singapore. This kind of life, however, was not to his liking, and he opened in business as a contractor. Among the important contracts he has carried out are two for the extension of the Fremantle jetty, one of 1000 feet, and the other of 450 feet. He is now steadily engaged in this line of business, in which he deserves the greatest success. Mr. Price married in June, 1888, the daughter of Mr. Brown, who for some time occupied important positions in the Ports Department at Fremantle. Throughout his somewhat varied career Mr. Price has proved a business man of resource and enterprise. Of a shrewd temperament, he is thoroughly straightforward in all his dealings, and possesses those excellent social qualities which tend to win him friends whereever he may go. No matter what position the vagaries of life have cast him into he has met them all bravely. A general favourite, there is no one that knows him but wishes him well.
WILLIAM GORDON BROOKMAN.
MR. Brookman was born at Prospect, Adelaide, in 1863, and received his education at Whinham College, in the same city. His scholastic career was one of unqualified brilliancy, and he succeeded in carrying off several scholarships, a performance which marked him out as a student of rare ability and exceptional merit. For several years after leaving school he was employed in the Government service of South Australia, but its monotonous regimen and limited scope did not tend towards enamoring him with the Civil Service of the colony. Growing tired, ultimately, of its surroundings, he resolved to launch forth on the commercial world, and embarked on several large and most enterprising ventures in the city. From the early moments of his introduction to the regimé of business life he showed a remarkable aptitude for acquiring a rapid and clear knowledge of its many-sided details, and a thorough practical exposition of his commercial attainments proved him a capable and shrewd business man. His high educational training aided him considerably in his lengthened cruises on the sea of competitive enterprise and commerce.
South Australia about this time was pulsating with thrills of emotion over the great Coolgardie discoveries. Many rushed to the West in the hopes of wooing early fortune. In June, 1893, Mr. Brookman left Adelaide in company with Mr. Pearce, and took boat to Albany. On arriving at the latter port they provided themselves with a spring dray and two good horses, and set out on that tedious and ever-to-be-remembered journey to Coolgardie. After considerable exertion they reached their El Dorado, but deemed it more desirable, after a short sojourn in Coolgardie, to push on to Hannans, which was then a mere embryo. On reaching Kalgoorlie they pitched their tent and went forth prospecting.
Mr. Brookman and his companion represented a capital of £150, which, though a small amount, was sufficient for the time. In the interests of their Syndicate they set to earnest work, and prospected the vicinity of Hannans. In a short time they pegged out the Great Boulder, Lake View Consols, Ivanhoe Lake View South, and the Associated Mines. They worked away at these claims with untiring energy and trusty confidence, but a lack of funds in the treasury of the Syndicate somewhat disappointed the sanguine prospectors. However bright may have been their anticipations of success, their prospect was ever darkened by terrible odds and straits. Again—the exchequer nearing depletion—exemption was unprocurable, and many so-called mining experts of note endeavoured to damp their ardour by decrying the claims, and suggesting abandonment. Yet, in the teeth of these cruel handicaps and vicissitudes they plodded gallantly on, hoping that soon their discoveries would refute the damaging and cynical opinions of their critics. Eventually, after much hard striving to comply with the stringent labour conditions they successfully floated the Ivanhoe mine in Melbourne for £30,000, and the Lake View for £80,000. These claims, now of such gigantic value, and so celebrated, gained popular appreciation and belief, at a humble exhibition of ls. and ls. 6d. per share in these early days. Few guessed the rich transformation that was in store for these despised and ill-favoured stocks. Encouraged somewhat by these flotations, the plucky prospectors unceasingly plied their labours to acquire as much ground in the vicinity of their claims as possible. They did not pause in their work of enrichment and aggrandisement till they had pegged out 500 acres in the richest part of Australia. Lease after lease was added to their existing possession, and when the batteries gave forth their sweet, melodious music, the fact of the richness of their claims fell on the astonished world with the crash of a thunderbolt. Shares were rushed for, and prices rose with unprecedented celerity. The
