Photographers Captured Last Generation of Gold Prospectors

Roger Garwood and Trish Ainslie traveled to Western Australia's remote Goldfields in 1989 hunting for war veterans who still prospected for gold. What they found instead became a beautiful accident that captured the last generation of a disappearing way of life.

The photography duo had planned a magazine feature but kept meeting prospectors with incredible stories who hadn't served in war. On their final day, they discovered Hector Pelham sitting on his verandah wearing a wire-held slouch hat and an eye patch, having enlisted the day World War II began.

When Ainslie asked if other war veteran prospectors remained, Pelham's response sparked their book title. "He said, 'Nah, dropping off like flies,'" she recalled.

Word of their project spread across the desert, passed from one prospector to another despite living hundreds of miles apart. Their first book, "Off Like Flies," published in November 1990 to widespread acclaim, documenting men who still used picks, shovels and sieves as state batteries closed around them.

The prospectors themselves left the deepest impression on Garwood, who remembered their remarkable solidarity. "If anyone was in trouble financially, a few of them would come together and give this bloke a handful of nuggets, just to help him through," he said.

Many lived in tin shacks with dirt floors and single gas stoves. Yet Garwood recalled their overwhelming contentment, particularly a prospector nicknamed Kingy near Meekatharra who pulled a metal trunk from under his bed filled with gold nuggets.

When Garwood suggested banking the treasure, Kingy's response captured the spirit of these men perfectly. "He said, 'Look, I've got half a million bucks in the bank. What do I need any more for?'"

Why This Inspires

These prospectors redefined wealth on their own terms. They chose community over accumulation, sunrises over status, and built lives measuring richness in friendship rather than fortune. In an era when gold hit $5,000 an ounce in 2026, their contentment with enough feels revolutionary.

Nearly four decades later, Ainslie remembers the peace of those sunsets and the extraordinary sight of people still panning for gold. The photographers captured not just faces, but a philosophy: true prosperity comes from knowing when you have enough.