One of the Palace Hotel’s regular guests in its early days was Herbert Hoover, who as a 22 year old US mining engineer worked in the Goldfields for several years.

During this time in Kalgoorlie, he reportedly fell in love with a barmaid at the Palace Hotel before leaving to marry his college sweetheart and continue his mining career in China, before rising to take the American Presidency in 1929. He also composed a poem to the barmaid, an excerpt of which hangs next to the famous mirror.

The elaborately carved mirror which stands in the foyer of the hotel was his parting gift to the Hotel where he spent much of his time when he was in Kalgoorlie.

We’ve also kept the memory of his of his alleged affair alive with a mural on one of our exterior walls and which has been become a part of the Heartwalk trail. Read the full story here.