Two sisters have watched as demolition crews pulled down the first house in a mine-side suburb to be vacated following relocation offers from Northern Star Resources.
Williamstown on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie-Boulder sits between two growing gold mines.
Tunnels from the Mount Charlotte mine reach underneath the neighbourhood, from which explosive blasts rattle residents, pets and damage homes.
Late last year Northern Star announced starting offers of $300,000 to encourage residents to vacate.
Residents said at the time the offer was a "low ball" and they would struggle to find new homes with a buyout lower than the median price across Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the cheapest regional centre in WA.
Emotional farewell to childhood home
The childhood home of sisters Bev Casey and Bobbie Leonard at 21 Plumer Street was the first to be demolished as a result of one of those deals.
"My mum and dad lived here for 60 years," Ms Casey said, looking on as a bobcat crushed panels built by her late father in 1940.
The sisters returned to the region to farewell their childhood home.
"It was only just a little neighbourhood and everyone was friends with everyone," Ms Casey said.
"Anyhow, mum passed and we sold it and now Northern Star has offered all the residents to get out."
She said when they were growing up, mining activity was nowhere near as intense as it was now — the famous Super Pit gold mine was just a series of small pits.
"We didn't have the Super Pit when we were kids, it was just the Golden Mile," Ms Casey said.
The Mount Charlotte mine, whose headframe now towers over the suburb, also didn't exist.
Fond memories of a quieter time
Ms Casey said she'd often return to Williamstown to walk the streets she played in as a girl.
"I still love coming back; every time I come up here, we always come up and look at the old house," she said, as more rubble was scooped into the demolition truck.
She said after her mother sold the house, it fell into disrepair, like many of the houses in the suburb whose prospects had long been in question amid increased mining.
"I walked through the house and it was just all dilapidated and it was very sad to see it like it was," she said.
Her sister, Bobbie Leonard, said the moment was also, in some ways, a final farewell to her parents who had now both died.
She said she'd keep those memories close now that she could no longer visit the home.
"We weren't super-wealthy or anything but we had good, loving parents and that's probably all you need, isn't it?"
Ms Leonard leaned on her car as she spoke, watching the wind stir the dust from the pieces of the home.
"I was a little bit emotional when we saw them starting on it.
