Northern Goldfields

Enjoy a real Australian outback adventure in Western Australia’s Northern Goldfields, exploring its wide open spaces, unique Aboriginal culture, outback towns rich in gold rush history, heritage architecture and the eerie ruins of ghost towns.

Situated north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the region includes the quintessential outback towns of Sandstone, Wiluna, Leonora, Menzies, Kookynie, Laverton and Warburton. It links the Western Australian Goldfields with Ayers Rock and Alice Springs along the Outback Way and WA’s North West via the Goldfields Highway “short cut” route.

A real Australian outback experience

By day Western Australia’s Northern Goldfields is a photographer’s dream, with vast outback skies contrasting with the rocky landscape and constantly changing colours at dawn and dusk. By night it’s a stargazer’s paradise - far from the glare of city lights, the outback night sky puts on a dazzling display. And from July to September, the landscape is carpeted with a striking variety of Western Australian wildflowers.

On the gentle breeze, wedge-tailed eagles soar above Western Australia’s Northern Goldfields in search of prey. Like many animal and plant species, they are uniquely adapted to the dry and fragile environment. You can explore a wonderland of Australian outback birds, animals, plants, wildflowers and rock formations by visiting the region’s national parks and nature reserves, or stay overnight at campsites or homesteads. Each park has a character of its own, from the Black Range and Mt Forrest to the vast Gibson Desert Nature Reserve and Lake Victoria Desert Nature Reserve.

A region rich in Australian outback history

Take an outback drive route and follow in the tracks of those who have travelled and inhabited Western Australia’s Northern Goldfields over thousands of years. From Indigenous Australians, pastoralists, and sandalwood cutters to prospectors, miners, Afghan cameleers and long-distance bike couriers of the gold rush era.

The region is particularly popular with visitors tracing their pioneering ancestry. There are many cemeteries whose gravestones reveal the secrets of the past to visiting friends and relatives.

Enjoy a leisurely drive along the Goldfields Highway, or tackle adventurous outback four wheel drive tracks such as the Canning Stock Route. And to understand more of what it was like to be an explorer, be sure to visit the Great Beyond Explorers Hall of Fame in Laverton.

Take a look around and start planning your own Australian outback adventure in Western Australia’s Northern Goldfields.

Northern Goldfields Travel Planner

The Shires of Menzies, Leonora, Laverton, Sandstone, Wiluna, Laverton and Ngaanyatjarraku produce a holiday guide for the Northern Goldfields region. To get your own copy, download the PDF here.