The Goldfields Highway: The completed sealing of the road linking Geraldton in the Mid-West with Leonora through Mullewa, Yalgoo, Mt. Magnet, Leinster and Sandstone, has resulted in an increase in visitor traffic to the North East Goldfields. The township of Leonora, 235km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is the hub between the west coast, the North East Goldfields and the region south.
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The Outback Highway: links the east coast with the west through Laverton in Western Australia's north eastern Goldfields to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and Boulia in Western Queensland and on through to Winton. The total length of the highway is 2,800 km, however by cutting through the centre of the country the highway actually reduces the trip from WA to Queensland by 1,600km.
London Bridge: up a track from the State Battery near the goldmining ghost town of Sandstone is the region's most interesting natural phenomenon - London Bridge. It is the most spectacular and unusual of the many naturally formed sandstone bridges and breakaways in the area and, in the early 1900s, was once wide enough to allow both horse and sulky to cross it. Over the years however, it has been eroded to its present width of one metre.
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The corrugated iron-built Masonic Lodge, Cue
Cue: once a thriving goldmining town, Cue is today one of Australia's most famous ghost towns. The town grew up around the gold diggings. The surface gold was soon removed during the heady days of the gold rush but deep mining continued long after the late 19th century prospectors left.
Walga Rock: a monolith 5 km around the base and 1.5 km long, Walga Rock the second largest in Australia. It is home to the largest gallery of Aboriginal rock paintings in Western Australia, most notably (from a European perspective) a painting of a sailing ship.
Big Bell: now a ghost town, Big Bell was established in 1936 as a result of the opening of the Big Bell open cut gold mine.Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), who would go on to be the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933), spent some time at Big Bell as a mine engineer. See Ghost Towns of Western Australia for other ghost towns in the Eastern Goldfields.
Eyre Highway: Visitors from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia can start their Western Australia adventure travelling one of the great highways of the world - the Eyre Highway. This excellent sealed road surface provides easy driving from the South Australian border through to Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
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| Visiting The Region: The Facts |
How To Get There: By road from Perth, take Great Northern Highway via Meekatharra to Port Hedland. Continue north to Broome (2,238 km from Perth) and Derby 92,391 km from Perth). By road from Darwin, travel south on Stuart Highway to Katherine. At Katherine, take the Victoria Highway to Kununurra (830 km from Darwin).
Derby, Broome and Kununurra are connected by daily Greyhound Australia Coach Services.
By air: Broome and Kununurra are connected by daily flights to Perth and Darwin. Broome is also connected by daily flights to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Port Hedland and Karratha.
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The Best Time To Visit: Any time of year is a great time to visit Kalgoorlie but locals will tell you that the best time to visit is in September when the famous Boulder to Kalgoorlie Cup (a horse race) attracts visitors from near and far. The population of the town swells at this time of year and if you are looking for fun this is the place to be.
The mining towns of the eastern Goldfields are well known for their wildflowers which add a vivid splash of colour to the otherwise red and brown landscape. Wildflower season is August to November.
Be aware that the more outlying areas are semi-arid or full desert regions, so expect hot days in summer, cold nights in winter and very little rainfall all year round.
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Regional Centres
Towns, Villages, Ghost Towns
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| Regions of Western Australia |
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