Ora Banda   WA  6431
Population: 50,  
Height above sea level: 450km
Latitude: -30.4000,   Longitude: 121.0600
Location:   640km east of Perth
Highway: Goldfields Hwy 
Nearest Major Town: Kalgoorlie
Nearest Airport: Kalgoorlie
Touring Area: Goldfields - Esperance
Small gold mining town gazetted in 1911 which fluctuates with the price of gold.
The once famous Huntington Mills Bank was situated there which, at one time, was the largest bank in the Southern Hemisphere. The Ora Banda Hotel was constructed by Alfred E Garnett (not that Alf Garnett) using stone and brick in 1911 and water was connected to the town in 1933 under the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme.
The Ora Banda Race Day is held in September and the Stata Battery still crushes ore on the outskirts of town.
In 2,000 Gypsy Joker motorcycle club member, Billy Grierson, was shot dead near the hotel which made national news. The publican, Don Hancock, was suspected at the time and was later killed in a car bombing in Perth, believed to be a revenge killing.


  
© Copyright Peter W. Wilkins