Decades-Old Explosives Unearthed During Kalgoorlie Office Renovations

A hessian sack full of old explosives was dug up from under the back deck of a surveying company office in Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The explosives can be dated back more than 70 years to 1955 as they were wrapped in an edition of the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper dated August 6 of that year. Construction workers were renovating the back deck of the Element Geospatial office on Cheetham Street when they discovered the bag on Wednesday morning. The workers immediately reported the findings, several police and fire safety units were deployed, and the area was evacuated. A police bomb squad drove up from Perth and arrived at the scene about 4.30pm. The explosives were safely removed, and the area was clear by 5.15pm. A spokesperson from the police said the explosives posed no immediate risk to the public. Element Geospatial Kalgoorlie team leader Matt Jones said the explosives were found under a hatch. “The deck has these sort of inspection hatches in it,” he said. “It was found roughly under one of those hatches — it’s obviously been put underneath the deck at some stage.” The explosives were found in a hessian bag that was labelled as a sugar sack, and wrapped in a Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper. Mr Jones said drains feed under the deck and the sack was found underneath layers of rubbish and dirt.