Halls Creek
"Oasis Of The Kimberley", Or So They Say...

To be honest, I don't have many good things to say about Halls Creek itself. Get there, fuel up your car, get out. That's what I usually do.

However, the country surrounding Halls Creek is some of the most beautiful along the Great Northern Highway, and there are several magnificent places just out of town where you can camp for a night. Or for several nights.

Halls Creek is also the Kimberley town that is closest to Purnululu National Park, and closest to the turn off to Wolfe Creek National Park.

Of course, if you aren't set up to go camping you may want to spend a night in Halls Creek. There are several accommodation options and there is nothing wrong with those. They are nice and welcoming.

History | Halls Creek Today | Printable Map | Tourism

History Of Halls Creek

The first explorer to survey the area (1879) was Alexander Forrest, the man who named the Kimberley. He reported about the excellent potential of the Kimberley as cattle grazing country, but he overlooked another opportunity. It was his brother John Forrest who noticed signs indicating that there may be gold.

The first two men who went looking for gold shortly after (Adam Johns and Phil Saunders) didn't have much luck, though they did find a few ounces.

In 1885 two other men arrived in the area, after sailing to Derby, travelling up the Fitzroy River and then across to the Elvire River. They stumbled over gold just about everywhere. Their names were Jack Slattery and Charlie Hall. (Halls Creek was named after Charlie.)

A short but intense gold rush followed. That's rush with a capital R. Officially the gold was discovered on July 14 1885. It was only weeks after word about the first gold discovery in WA was out that men from as far away as New Zealand arrived. Men walked across from Queensland! The newly established ports in Derby and Wyndham boomed as thousands of miners poured into the region.

And within the blink of an eye it was over.

Gold had been discovered in the south, (in Coolgardie to be precise,) which was a lot easier to reach and nowhere near as inhospitable and harsh as the north. Halls Creek was a ghost town by 1888.

Nothing much happened over the next 50 or so years. At least nothing much that history books consider worth mentioning. But if you dig around a bit you will find a plethora of riveting stories about the hardships and the heroism of the early pioneers, like the story of the young stockman Darcy (his grave is the most famous in Halls Creek's graveyard). You can read his story and others on this excellent page about Halls Creek's history.

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Halls Creek Today

Since the end of the gold rush Halls Creek has existed as a service centre for the surrounding cattle stations and for the traffic passing through. That's still the case today.

The historical Halls Creek town site was eventually abandoned. Lack of water was one reason (how people managed to survive there without a water source is a mystery), but the main reason was the re-routing of the main road (today's highway). The move to the new site, only 15 km away, started in 1948 and was completed in 1954.

Today the ruins of the original town site are a tourist attractions (although there's not much to see). You used to be able to forage around amongst the ruins, evoking the ghosts of days gone by, but no more. All the ruins are now covered and fenced off. That was necessary to preserve what's left, but it significantly reduced the appeal of the site.

The new town isn't all that appealing either, as I already pointed out. The signs proclaiming it to be "The Oasis of the Kimberley" are faded, none of the buildings in town have had a fresh coat of paint in many years, everything looks rather dilapidated.

The main road (which is the highway passing through) features a couple of service stations, a small supermarket, bakery, take away, and that's it.

The population of Halls Creek fluctuates a lot. Apparently it is around 1300 but I imagine that number would include all the surrounding cattle stations and Aboriginal communities. The town itself is a lot smaller and the population is mostly Aboriginal. The usual problems of alcohol abuse, petrol sniffing, domestic violence etc. are obvious as soon as you enter town.

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Printable Halls Creek Map

Here is a map of Halls Creek, produced by the Department of Land Administration. It shows everything of interest (that's mainly the roads out of Halls Creek). The Duncan Road leads to the old town site and the best camping spots. The accommodation options in town are all marked.

(The map is a .pdf document and you need Adobe Acrobat reader to view and print it. If it's not installed on your computer get it here for free.)

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Halls Creek Tourism

The only thing that Halls Creek has going for it is its location. It is still as essential a stopover point for travellers as it has been for the last 130 years, and the surrounding country is beautiful.

The turn-off for the Tanami Road and the Wolfe Creek Crater is only 16 km to the west, the turn off to Purnululu National Park is 107 km to the north-east. If you spend a night in Halls Creek, you probably find yourself at the Kimberley Hotel or the Halls Creek Motel.

There is a caravan park (which is about as sprightly as the rest of the town) and then there is the Halls Creek Lodge. The lodge is near the old townsite, and when you first get there you will see a hill with car wrecks and abandoned machinery parts strewn around. That's it. It actually has air-conditioned rooms and a restaurant. I haven't stayed or eaten there so I can't tell you more about it.

If you are set up to camp I would recommend you choose one of the places further along the Duncan Road: Palm Springs, Caroline Pool and Sawpit Gorge are all nearby.

Also in the same area is the China Wall, which is a bit of limestone sticking out of the ground. It rises from the creek at the bottom (which is a nice spot for a swim during the wet season) over the side of the hill and looks like a miniature version of the Great Wall of China. (And if you die without having seen it it's not such a big deal I'd say...)

Sorry that this page doesn't have any pictures. It's never occurred to me to take any photos of Halls Creek, and after what I just wrote I'm not game enough to ask their shire or tourism office to help me out.

The Duncan Road
The Bunge Bungles/Purnululu National Park
Wolfe Creek Crater National Park