Australia operates in extremes: scorching temperatures, deadly animals, and crude language. The same applies to holidays. In Western Australia's Goldfields alone, you can find a rare and priceless artwork, the world's longest golf course, and Australia's oldest working brothel.
If you are looking for a new and exciting adventure, you are likely to find it here in WA's Golden Outback, where the weird and wonderful intertwine. One moment you are teeing off on the Nullarbor Links; the next you are wandering around a salt lake discovering human-like sculptures scattered across Lake Ballard. All you need to do is dig a little deeper, and you will uncover unlikely riches rarer than gold in the Goldfields. Here are some of them.
Test Your Swing at the Nullarbor Links
The Nullarbor Links is the world's longest golf course, spanning over 1,300 kilometres from Kalgoorlie to Ceduna in South Australia. If you are not traveling the entire distance, you can play just six holes between Kalgoorlie and Norseman, which includes the pristine greens of Kalgoorlie Golf Club and bushland holes next to the Great Western Woodlands. To play the course, purchase a scorecard from the Ceduna, Norseman, or Kalgoorlie visitor centre. Have your card stamped at service stations or visitor centres along the way. Upon completion, you will receive a completion certificate.
See One of the World's Most Unusual Artworks
The Goatcher Curtain resides centre-stage along the heritage precinct on Burt Street. Named after its creator, renowned English theatre artist Philip Goatcher, the mural stands 6.25 metres high and 8.44 metres wide. Painted in 1908, it is the last remaining working stage curtain of its kind in the world and depicts red velvet curtains and white satin drapes in a half-pulled state. The curtains border an elaborate gold frame, revealing a window to Italy's Bay of Naples: a dreamy summer tableau with fishing boats and Mount Vesuvius separated by the blue sea. To view Boulder's pièce de résistance, join a one-hour guided tour of Boulder Town Hall on Tuesdays or Thursdays, where you will also be shown the ropes with the theatre's original pulley system, still in use today.
Australia's Oldest Working Brothel
Australia's oldest working brothel, Questa Casa, has been a Kalgoorlie landmark since opening its doors in the late 1890s. Known as the Pink House, the 1904-built white corrugated-iron shed features 11 pale-pink doors known as the starting stalls, where women would conduct business. Today, Questa Casa still welcomes visitors and serves as an unlikely tourist attraction offering tours. Led by the brothel's madam, the memorable one-hour tour goes beyond the pink doors, baring all.
Ghosts of WA's Past
The once-thriving town of Gwalia is a ghostly reminder of Western Australia's golden age. When mining operations suddenly ceased in 1963, Gwalia was hastily abandoned, with miner cottages filled with furniture and household items left to rust. Thankfully, thirty-one buildings of the former prosperous town have been preserved, including cottages, a windmill, and attractions still in use today, such as the Gwalia Museum and Hoover House. Named after Gwalia's first mine manager, Herbert Hoover, who later served as the thirty-first President of the United States, the house never hosted President Hoover but now operates as a bed and breakfast accommodation overlooking the former mine site and ghost town. Spooky!
Visit the World's Most Remote Art Installation
There is no other lake like Lake Ballard. Standing tall along the dry salt lake are fifty-one human-like sculptures designed by acclaimed British artist Sir Antony Gormley for the 2003 exhibition Inside Australia. Dotted over a 10-square-kilometre stretch, the life-size metal artworks were modelled on residents of Menzies, fifty-one kilometres east of Lake Ballard. We were not kidding when we said weird and wonderful.
For those yet to explore the unusual riches of the Goldfields, consider this your invitation to pack the car and discover a part of Western Australia full of unexpected stories and unlikely experiences. Feeling inspired? For more information about your adventure, visit the website.
