Sights in Western Australia
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Aquarium of Western Australia
For all things fishy, head to the Aquarium of Western Australia. Here you can wander through a 98m underwater tunnel as gargantuan turtles, stingrays, fish and sharks stealthily glide over the top of you. A series of mini marine-worlds show off the state’s underwater treasures: intriguing sea dragons, moon jellies (which billow, iridescent, through a giant cylinder), venomous fish and sea snakes. Seals play in the underwater-viewing area. The daring can even snorkel or dive with the sharks in the giant aquarium with the in-house divemaster. Book in advance (snorkel/dive including gear $145/165; 1pm and 3pm).
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Kings Park & Botanic Garden
The green hilltop crown of Kings Park & Botanic Garden is set amid 4 sq km of natural bushland. The garden boasts over 2000 Western Australian plant species, which bloom during the September Perth Wildflower Festival. The architect-designed Lotterywest Federation Walkway (admission free; 9am-5pm) is a broad 222m-long, glass-and-steel structure that allows you to walk among the treetops – it’s a highlight.
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Pinnacles
The Pinnacles are typical of the kind of eerie landmark this ancient terrain throws up - anomalous pillars of sandstone spread over the desert like soldiers petrified by an angry god. The geological explanation for these striking formations is, if anything, more wondrous than any supernatural provenance.
The Pinnacles are the high point (pun reluctantly acknowledged) of the Nambung National Park. While the Indian Ocean is close at hand, it's hard to credit the fact that these towering stacks, some as high as 3m, are actually formed by crushed sea shells. Compacted by rain over countless millennia, the sand, harder in some areas than others, eroded to form the pillars that…
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Cossack
It may be a fair distance from Karijini, but the ghost town of Cossack and its open-air museum is well worth a visit. Providing an insight into the Pilbara's frontier past, it was a place of some (relative) prominence in the 19th century, only to be abandoned by the middle of the next.
Originally named Tien Tsin (after the barque that carried Walter Padbury, the region's first settler), the town went through a succession of name- and identity-changes in its short life. Sheep grazing, then gold mining, then pearling were the industries to which Cossack (like the Pilbara in general) yoked its fortunes during the latter half of the 19th century. It was pearling, in particula…
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Dampier Peninsula
Red soil, turquoise waters, living Aboriginal culture, crocodiles, flooding monsoons: the Dampier Peninsula has everything people come to the Top End to see. It's not the most easily accessible place on earth, however, and you'll need to plan your trip well.
A centre for the pearling industry in the late 19th century, the Dampier Peninsula is nonetheless largely unspoilt, a glorious wedge of Australia's virgin tropical north. Approximately half of the peninsula is still Aboriginal land - the home of the Nimanburru, Jawi, Nyulnyul, Bardi, Ngumbarl and Jabirrjabirr language groups. Many Aboriginal communities offer cultural, fishing and mud-crabbing tours, as well as accomm…
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Bungle Bungles
The Bungle Bungles are a truly otherworldly sight. Scored with improbably bold russet and charcoal bands, they feel like the spine of the earth. The 'discovery' of the Bungle Bungles is a testament to the sheer size and inaccessibility of Western Australia.
This vast ochre range of wind-worn sandstone nubs, a latterday icon of the state that covers 450 sq km (173 sq mi) of a 2000 sq km (772 sq mi) national park, was unknown to European Australians prior to the 1980s. Known as Purnululu (meaning 'sandstone' in the Kidja language), the bizarre, banded bulges were formed by deposits of sand and other sediment laid down up to 375 million years ago. The park is also noted for…
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Oxers Lookout
Perched above the confluence of the Hancock, Weano, Joffre and Red gorges, Oxers Lookout is genuinely stunning. It may not be the easiest place to get to, but the sense of splendid isolation only adds to the effect.
In a place as vast and (usually) dry as WA, the magnetism of fresh water is enhanced. When that water takes the form of four separate creeks, slicing deeply into the ancient red rock, then tumbling many storeys down dark, jagged gorges, that magnetism is irresistible. To get to Oxers, you'll need a 4WD to negotiate the sometimes-rugged Banyjima Drive, the unsealed road that leads into the heart of Karijini. Access becomes more difficult during summer deluges, …
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Western Australian Museum Kalgoorlie-Boulder
The impressive Ivanhoe mine headframe at the northern end of Hannan St marks the entrance to this excellent museum of early social history of the goldfields. Check out the fantastic display of renovated historic buildings, including a relocated miner’s cottage and early mobile police station (attached to a train, to deal with troublemakers in the outback!). The museum has an underground gold vault and historic photographs, and an exhibition of Victorian-era trade-union banners. A lift takes you to a dizzying lookout on the headframe, where you can peer out over the city and mines, and down into delightfully untidy backyards. Twice-daily guided tours start at 11am and 2.30…
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Tom Price Mine
An ugly scar to some, an awe-inspiring testament to the industrial revolution to others, there's no doubting the sheer impact of Tom Price. This is what it looks like when you find a mountain of iron, cut it up into small lumps and ship it away.
The first mine to be established in the Hamersley Ranges, Tom Price is still the largest and most significant in the region. Producing more than a quarter of Hamersley iron's annual output of 76.5 million tonnes of ore, the mine is named for the American engineer whose enthusiasm first led to the development of the massive Pilbara deposits. Tours leave daily during the peak months between April and October and are arranged for gro…
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Nambung National Park
Nambung National Park, 17km from Cervantes, is home to the spectacular and otherworldly Pinnacles Desert, where thousands of limestone pillars are scattered across a moonlike landscape on a golden desert floor. The lime-rich desert sand originated from seashells, which compacted with rain and subsequently eroded, forming individual pillars, some towering up to 5m. A good gravel loop-road runs through the formations and you can stop to walk among them. Also in the park, and accessible from the main road in, two gravel tracks lead for a kilometre or so to beaches at Kangaroo Point and Hangover Bay, which is good for a dip. Gas barbecues and tables are in prime locations her…
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Round House
Out on Arthur Head, the western end of High St near the Maritime Museum, is the Round House. Built in 1831, it’s the oldest public building in WA. It was originally a local prison and the site of the colony’s first hanging. On the hilltop outside is the Signal Station, where at 1pm daily a time ball and cannon blast were used to alert seamen to the correct time – the ceremony is reenacted daily. Later, the building was used for holding Aborigines before they were taken away to Rottnest Island. To the Noongar people, the Round House is a sacred site because of the number of their people killed while incarcerated here.
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Gwalia Historic Site
Just 4km southwest of town, Gwalia Historic Site was occupied in 1896 and deserted pretty much overnight in 1963, after the pit closed. With houses and household goods disintegrating intact, it’s a strange, eerie, fascinating ghost town. There’s a museum with more weird and wonderful stuff in it than we’ve ever seen. Hoover House – the 1898 mine manager’s house, named for Gwalia’s first mine manager, Herbert Hoover, who later became the 31st president of the United States – is beautifully restored, and you can B&B here in one of its three exquisite bedrooms (rooms $145).
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Mining Hall of Fame
A shortcut to understanding this town is the excellent Mining Hall of Fame. Located on the site of Paddy Hannan’s original lease and a working mine until 1952, it explores the mining industry from the underground up. You can go 36m below the surface in a mine shaft (and see why claustrophobics don’t make good miners), pan for gold and be mesmerised by a gold pour. Kids of all ages will be kept well occupied in the interactive Exploration Zone, and you can relax in the Garden of Remembrance, dedicated to the immigrant Chinese who worked the goldfields.
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Lighthouse Keepers Cottage Museum
The Heritage Precinct is an intriguing place to learn about Carnarvon’s history. The area, once the city’s port, houses the Lighthouse Keepers Cottage Museum, Railway Station Museum and the One Mile Jetty, where locals fish for mulloway; you can either walk or take a vintage tram to the end of the jetty. Although the train from the footbridge to the Heritage Precinct is no longer running, a walking trail runs the 2.5km length of the old tracks.
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Cathedral of St Francis Xavier
The elaborate Cathedral of St Francis Xavier is the finest example of the architectural achievements of the multitalented Monsignor Hawes. Construction began in 1916, but the plans were so grandiose for what was essentially a country-town church that it wasn’t completed until 1938. Its most striking features include imposing twin towers with arched openings, a central dome, Romanesque columns and boldly striped walls. Guided tours are available at 10am Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Cape Range National Park
Stunning Cape Range National Park covers 510 sq km, about a third of the North-West Cape peninsula, and is rich in wildlife – kangaroos, emus, echidnas and lizards are easily spotted on a walk or drive through the park. Spectacular deep canyons and rugged red limestone gorges dramatically cut into the range and flow with deep blue water that mirrors the cliffs when calm. The gorges gradually give way to white sand, which leads to the crystal waters of Ningaloo Reef.
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Maritime Museum Shipwrecks Galleries
Although the Maritime Museum commands a lot of attention, don’t miss the intriguing Shipwrecks Galleries, where you can learn about gung-ho seafaring adventures and misfortunes. The museum (in a building constructed in 1852 as a commissariat store) has a display on WA’s maritime history, with emphasis on the recovery and restoration of the famous wreck Batavia, in addition to other Dutch merchant ships and some more recent wrecks.
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Whale World Museum
The Whale World Museum, 21km from Albany, is based in Frenchman’s Bay at Cheynes Beach Whaling Station, which closed in November 1978. There’s the rusting Cheynes IV whale chaser and station equipment to inspect outside. The museum screens several 3-D gore-spattered films and other films about whaling operations, and displays harpoons, whaleboat models and scrimshaw (etchings on whalebone). There are free guided tours on the hour.
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Holmes à Court Gallery
Idyllically located by the river in East Perth, the Holmes à Court Gallery was started by the late millionaire industrialist Robert Holmes à Court in the 1970s and today the collection comprises more than 3000 pieces. About one-third is made up of the best collection of canvas and bark paintings by Indigenous artists held in private hands; the remainder includes some of Australia’s leading contemporary artworks, and touring exhibitions.
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Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park
Just back from Cable Beach is the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park. Australia’s original crocodile hunter was making classic Aussie adventure films Across the Top and Follow the Sun back in the 1960s. To get the most out of your visit, time it with a feeding tour (3pm daily in the dry season; alligator- feeding tours 11am Monday to Friday). Douglas’ latest project is a new wildlife park 16km north of Broome.
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Western Australian Museum Geraldton
One not-to-be-missed attraction is the Western Australian Museum Geraldton. Here you’ll find engaging multimedia displays on the area’s natural and cultural history with exhibits on Aborigines, pioneers and early explorers. The atmospheric Shipwreck Gallery documents the tragic story of the Batavia. There’s also video footage of the sunken HMAS Sydney, which was only located in 2008.
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Stromatolites
A lot of places talk about 'stepping back in time', but here, you really are! Stromatolites are, in essence, living fossils. In fact they're a perfect example of the earliest life on earth (one of only two in the world). The water is twice as saline as seawater, making these rock-like outcroppings (sole) kings of the pool. The best time to visit these mind-boggling microorganisms is between June and October.
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Perth Zoo
Perth Zoo has a number of interesting collections, including a nocturnal house and an ‘Australian Bushwalk’. Take the ferry ($3.20 return) across the river from Barrack St jetty to South Perth jetty, where the zoo is within walking distance. Otherwise catch buses to the zoo’s entrance: 30/31 from Wellington St bus station or the Esplanade Busport or 730/731 along Adelaide Tce.
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Shell Beach
Picture a snow-white beach bordered by azure water stretching to the horizon; just don't imagine walking on it barefoot. Billions of coquina bivalve shells have been washed up by the surf to stunning effect. Make sure you have enough memory in your camera because you're going to want to take umpteen pictures. You could even go for the snow effect - tossing up handfuls of shells into the air!
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Millstream-Chichester National Park
Around 120km south of Roebourne, this 2000-sq-km park is well worth a detour – you’ll be rewarded by panoramic vistas reminiscent of the USA’s Monument Valley.
The unstaffed Millstream visitors centre (h8am-4pm) was once the homestead of a pastoral station and now has excellent displays on the park’s history, ecosystems and traditional owners, the Yindjibarndi people.
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