Flat Top Breakaway

This Outback region of Australia's largest State seems to have attracted little attention in recent years … and in fact the Murchison has mostly been a place for visitors and tourists to pass through on the way to somewhere else.

This was not always the case, and it seems certain that it will not remain this way for much longer.

Stretching from around Paynes Find in the south to just north of Meekatharra, east to Sandstone and Wiluna and west to around Gascoyne Junction, the Murchison's boundaries are somewhat undefined and a little flexible, depending on who you talk to and which maps you look at.

Around the turn of the century, this whole area became known as the Murchison Goldfields with the undeniable heart of the district centred around the town of Cue – 'The Queen of the Murchison' – a tag that still sticks today.

Goldfields History in Murchison WA

The Murchison's beginnings followed the discovery of gold near Cue in 1892 by Mick Fitzgerald and his partner Tom Cue, after whom the town was named. This new township, during those hectic gold rush days of the 1890s, became the administration centre for the whole Murchison region. A number of the main buildings constructed more than 100 years ago are still standing today and are classified by the National Trust. Several of them, including the original courthouse and the police station, are still being used for their original purposes. 

Gold strike locations such as Big Bell, Peak Hill, The Hidden Treasure, Great Fingall, Tuckanarra, Garden Gully, Horse-shoe, Field's Find, Lennonville, Quinns and Nannine all became household names as tens of thousands came with their picks and shovels and scant supplies, setting up camps in the bush and makeshift shanty towns and digging their way through the countryside in search of that precious 'colour' – a goal that kept them going in this hot, dry Outback region for weeks, months and years at a time.  

Today, most of these centres are completely abandoned; ghost towns of a bygone era. In some instances however (with today's high price for gold), the areas have been transformed into huge open-cut gold mines that, with the use of modern technology, are churning out gold on a scale that could not even be dreamt about by the 'old timers' all those years ago.

The modern-day prospectors waving their metal detectors are also part of a new wave of hopefuls coming to the Murchison (and some are doing quite well for their efforts), but it seems clear that gold is not the only thing luring today's tourists and visitors to this Outback region.

Murchison Attractions Beyond Gold

Throughout the district, many of its other attractions are progressively being discovered … magnificent, rugged breakaway country, picturesque waterholes, giant granite monoliths (rocks), an ancient 30,000-year-old Aboriginal ochre mine (Wilgie Mia – 60 kilometres north-west of Cue), and various rock art sites.

Another appealing reason to visit the Murchison, particularly around August or September, is to take in the lovely array of wildflowers to be found out here. Wide horizons of paper daisies can be seen in many areas, whilst a variety of wattles, grevilleas, copper cups, mulla mullas and many more all add colour to this red soil Outback landscape. Not to be forgotten, also in the southern regions near Wubin, Pindar and Mullewa in spring, the magnificent circular-shaped lechenaultia flowers can be seen colourfully decorating the sides of roadways and in gravel pits along the way.

In addition, this whole region offers some great off-the-beaten-track exploring, bushwalking and camping experiences. Out here, tourist numbers are still quite low; and at many of the great camp spots to be found, you'll still have the place entirely to yourself.

To the west, near Gascoyne Junction, is the magnificent spectacle of the Kennedy Ranges – stark, breakaway country extending around 80 kilometres long and in parts up to 25 kilometres wide. This ancient eroded range with its fantastic rock formations and a maze of deep-sided canyons (which contain permanent springs and abundant wildlife) is also home to a wide range of gemstones, petrified wood, sea fossils and a number of ancient Aboriginal rock engravings.

Nearby on the northern edge of the Murchison is the world's largest rock – Mt Augustus (Burringurrah) – a monocline over twice the size of Ayers Rock. This huge rock (discovered in 1858), mostly covered in low growth (quite unlike its stark, bald Central Australian cousin), is attracting visitors in their thousands each year and is estimated to be around 1,700 million years old.

London Bridge Breakaway

Natural Wonders for Outback WA RV Travellers

To the west of the main Goldfields region, the actual Shire of Murchison (with a population of only around 170) has a few more surprises in store. Here you'll find the Shire Office plus a Roadhouse/Caravan Park (including motel units). As well, there is a splendid rammed earth museum containing a fascinating insight into local Yamatge Aboriginal people and extensive pastoral and family histories in the district. 

Nearby Bilung Pool and waterfall is a beautiful picnic spot with colourful cliffs and a picturesque deep permanent waterhole in the Wooramel River; and Errabiddy Bluff, a splendid breakaway outcrop, offers a great view over this remote countryside. Wooleen Station is a popular station stay attraction out here – a working sheep property with plenty of Outback scenery, wildlife, mountain bike and walk trails, as well as pet kangaroos and true station hospitality. Homestead and campground accommodation is available.

Another exciting development here in the Murchison, on the flat open countryside of Boolardy Station (another extensive sheep property), is that the landscape out here is starting to be transformed – with the construction of more than 100 powerful satellite dishes after Australia secured a critical part of a $2 billion project in this remote location at the centre of cutting edge space exploration.

In a major coup for Australia, this massive project (known as the Square Kilometre Array and including the biggest radio telescope in the world), which we co-host with South Africa, aims to help unlock some of the greatest mysteries of the universe … including its evolution and original formation.  

 Away to the west is the little-known Dalgaranga Meteorite Crater. And just to its north is Walga Rock. This huge granite boulder, some four kilometres in circumference, is home to some good examples of very old Aboriginal art including a mysterious painting of an old sailing ship – some 300 kilometres inland from the coast.

To the east around Sandstone where gold was discovered in 1894, there is an interesting Heritage Trail that takes in an old gold battery, an old brewery which kept its kegs cool in a drilled out cave in the side of a hill, and another splendid section of breakaway country which includes Sandstone's famous London Bridge.  

Plan Your Murchison WA Adventure

Today's Murchison clearly still retains its roots deeply embedded in its gold-rich countryside. But it seems the real 'riches' of the region (and a much needed source of new income) are being brought in by tourism … for now only a trickle; but a real flood is not far away, with a number of tourist pathways now developed through the region (Wool Wagon, Miners and Kingsford-Smith Mail Run Pathways) starting to be quite well used.

Before the tourist rush really gets underway out here, take my advice and meander through the Murchison during your next trip through Western Australia – and see for yourself what others have been missing for years as they rushed through here on the way to somewhere else.

A breakaway near Mt Magnet

Journey Planner for the Murchison

Cue, in the centre of the Murchison District, is 650 kilometres north-east of Perth on the Great Northern Highway – a fully sealed road passing through the Wheatbelt and then the more sparse goldfields country along the way north from Perth. Most other roads throughout the Murchison are gravel, usually in quite good condition. Hema Mid West and WA State Maps give good coverage of the Murchison area.

Caravan park accommodation is available at Meekatharra, Mount Magnet, Paynes Find, Yalgoo, Sandstone, Wiluna, Mount Augustus, Murchison Settlement; and a particularly interesting accommodation option is found at Cue … which years ago was the town gaol – the old lock-up still stands in the centre of the park. Hotel and/or motel accommodation is also available in most of the main towns.

For more information contact Shire of Cue (08) 9963 8600; Meekatharra Shire Council Tourist Information Centre (08) 9981 1002 and Mount Magnet Tourist Information Centre (08) 9963 4172.  

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Aboriginal art at Walga Rock - near Cue. 

Category: Destinations
Written: Tue 01 July 2025
Printed: January, 2025
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