No Royalty, No Deal

Most Western Australians and certainly most Australians would never have heard of Royce Allen, better known as Bill Allen. Bill worked as an underground miner at Coolgardie, Bullfinch and Kalgoorlie for over 35 years before taking up prospecting full time in the early 1980’s. Bill was a modern day prospector, utilising traditional old time prospecting methods, primarily the art of loaming taught to him by his mentor Sam Cash. Born at the beginning of the “Great Depression” of the 1930’s he did it tough for most of his childhood. He left school at fourteen when he reach the legal age to do so with a very fractured and limited formal education. He struggled with alcoholism and overcame it, then over the years made two very significant gold discoveries in the Eastern Goldfields Region of Western Australia. The first at Golden Cities near Broad Arrow and later at Kintore near Coolgardie. In total Bill’s discoveries have resulted in over 45 tonnes of gold being defined. Bill leaves an enormous legacy in the Eastern Goldfields and the State of Western Australia having created wealth and work for many. Bill’s greatest legacy though is to his wife Vera, 5 surviving children and their respective families through his No Royalty No Deal catch cry. Bill always saw the true value in the ongoing royalty as opposed to a quick grab for up front cash.