Yilgarn Who's Who
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Distinguished and Famous people from Yilgarn
✈️ Jessie “Chubbie” Miller
Pioneering aviator Jessie Miller was born at Southern Cross in 1901, the daughter of bank manager Charles Beveridge. Known throughout her life as “Chubbie”, despite her slight build, she became the first woman to travel from England to Australia by air, accompanying Bill Lancaster on their 1927–28 journey. She later pursued flying in her own right and became a prominent figure in early women’s aviation. Her family moved several times during her childhood as her father’s banking career took them elsewhere. Southern Cross is her birthplace, linking a remote goldfields banking household with one of aviation’s more adventurous international stories.
⛏️ Tom Riseley and Mick Toomey
Prospectors Tom Riseley and Mick Toomey are closely associated with Southern Cross’s beginnings as a goldfields town. They found gold there in 1888 and named the place after the constellation that had helped them navigate at night. The celestial theme continued into the names of local streets and the salt lake. Riseley later worked as a coachdriver and teamster, another occupation tied to moving people and supplies through the developing fields. Their story connects a practical skill—finding a way through the country—with a town name that has lasted. Southern Cross remains the principal town of the Shire of Yilgarn.
⛏️ Arthur Bayley
Prospector Arthur Bayley’s famous gold discovery was at Coolgardie, but Southern Cross played an important part in what followed. In 1892 he registered the claim at its courthouse and deposited gold at the local bank, helping trigger the rush eastwards. The courthouse had opened the previous year, when Southern Cross was an administrative and supply centre for the expanding fields. Bayley’s association therefore belongs to a specific event in the town’s gold-rush history. It also helps explain why this relatively small settlement mattered: discoveries made farther east were reported, recorded and brought into the financial system through institutions already established here.
