The Perth Mint opened in 1899 as a branch of Britain's Royal Mint, built to process gold from the great WA gold rush that had turned Kalgoorlie into a boom town. It is the oldest operating mint in Australia and one of the few places in the world where you can watch gold being smelted and poured in a live demonstration. Every hour, staff melt gold in a furnace and pour it into a bar mould — the molten metal glows deep orange, then hardens to the familiar yellow in seconds. The experience is genuinely impressive in a way that museum displays rarely are.
For the right fee you can pour your own gold bar (a small one — do not get too excited), and the on-site exhibition covers the full story of the WA gold rush: the desperate prospectors, the tent cities, the fortunes made and lost in the red dust around Kalgoorlie. The Mint's coin collection includes some extraordinary rarities, and the gift shop sells investment-grade gold and silver coins if you happen to be in the market. It sits on Hay Street just east of the CBD, walkable from the city centre and compact enough to do in a couple of hours.