The area where Leonora-Gwalia are situated was first travelled by Sir John Forrest in 1869 during an unsuccessful search for signs of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt's expedition from the east.

A number of years passed before Edward "Doodah" Sullivan first pegged the area in 1896 for gold prospecting, on the heels of recent finds in Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.

Gold was discovered near the base of Mount Leonora in May 1896 by Carlson, White and Glendinning, who named the claim "Sons of Gwalia" in honour of Thomas Tobias, a storekeeper in Coolgardie, who funded them.

As a result, the town's population was made up mostly of Italian immigrants, as well as other Europeans, who sought riches in Australia's newest gold rush.

[5] As the mine developed, workers camped out nearby, building shanties of corrugated iron and hessian cloth, some with dirt floors.

It was fired by mulga timber gathered from surrounding areas and a number of 2-foot (610 mm) gauge tramways were laid to enable haulage.

While the pool saw abandonment along with the rest of the town when the mine closed, the hotel remained occupied by various tenants, and stands today as a popular attraction.

By the early 1960s, gold resources in the Sons of Gwalia were taxing existing techniques and profitability, and in December 1963, Bewick & Moreing closed the mine.

The new operation, which promised an additional 1.6 million troy ounces (50 t) of gold, was traded on the Australian Stock Exchange and saw significant growth.

[10] The plane, a twin-engine Beechcraft Super King Air 200, apparently lost cabin pressure shortly after takeoff from Perth.

The pilot and passengers were left without enough oxygen, and the plane continued in a straight line on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed in Queensland, 2,840 kilometres (1,760 mi) from Perth.

Sons of Gwalia NL found itself in financial difficulty in 2004 (through hedging), and the resulting crash became headline news across the country and sent waves throughout the world's gold trading market.