Graham Kehoe: A refined career at The Perth Mint
With 36 years under his belt, Graham Kehoe ranks as The Perth Mint’s second-longest serving employee after his coining division colleague Neil Rogers.
He has a strong link to a largely forgotten part of our recent history in that he worked at the Mint’s Kalgoorlie gold refinery, joining in 1988 soon after it opened and remained there until it closed seven years later.
Originally from Adelaide, Graham arrived in Kalgoorlie in the mid-80s on his way to Perth.
“I ran out of money when I reached Kalgoorlie and was stuck there for 11 years,” he laughs.
It might have been a young man’s misfortune at the time, but it changed the course of Graham’s life.
After a few years in various jobs on mines and a power station, he saw a job advertised at the new Kalgoorlie gold refinery. 
“It seemed like a progression, and it was certainly interesting to get on board in a workplace on the ground floor. It was all brand new, purpose built,” he says.
The Kalgoorlie refinery was commissioned at a time of major changes at the Mint. At the time plans were being made to end refining at the heritage premises in East Perth and build a new refinery near Perth Airport, which opened in 1990.
The Kalgoorlie refinery building is still there, on Vivian Street next to Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison. The refinery employees’ uniform at the time was all green, the same as the inmates next door and Graham recalls amusing moments when staff were walking to work and having police cars slow down for a close look just to make sure they weren’t a prisoner on an unauthorised excursion.
Graham reached a leadership role at the refinery, but the Kalgoorlie team were blindsided by a sudden decision to close the refinery because of narrowing profit margins. He took up the offer of redeployment to the Perth refinery in 1995.
In 2004, Graham moved to the coining division in East Perth, initially in the silver processing area, and is now leading hand in the gold fabrication team.
“I was keen to learn new skills in the coining area, and the move enabled me to progress to more senior roles,” he says.
He still has fond memories of his time with the close-knit Kalgoorlie team and among his mementoes is a collection of photos of him at work when The Australian newspaper did a feature for its colour magazine on the Goldfields city to mark its centenary in 1993.
