The outback rivers and creeks that gather the rain that falls west of the Great Dividing Range in central and southern Queensland join together to form the Darling River at the northern New South Wales town of Brewarrina. From here it tracks south through western New South Wales to join the Murray River at Wentworth which flows west and south to spill into the Great Australian Bight.
The Darling River Run is a tourist drive that follows the Darling River from Brewarrina to Wentworth (or vice versa).
We’ll be following the Darling River north starting in Wentworth.
But first we have to get there.
13th – 17th May, 2024
Mornington Peninsula to Wentworth
Leaving the Mornington Peninsula it was highway driving all the way until we stopped for brunch in Kyneton. There’s a lovely free camp here beside the Campaspe River and a hand pump to fill your bottle with pure mineral water pulled up through 37 metres of basalt.
Mount Alexander
Mount Alexander is our campsite for the next two nights. It’s not a particularly high mountain but, as all the countryside here is flat, it is significant.
The large granite boulders reminded us of Girraween NP. The bushwalking trails here are all a natural surface, easy to walk on and through wooded areas with surrounding views. We walked the circuit track to Dog Rock. Lovely to strap on the walking boots again.
Boort and Piccolo Sculpture Gardens
Many of the little towns in central north Victoria are fading away – shops closed, businesses for sale, unkempt gardens. It’s sad to see as they have such beautiful architecture in many of their homes and public buildings. Boort, where we’re camping tonight, is one such town.
This morning we visited the Piccolo Sculpture Gardens 20 mins north of Boort. The sculptures are made entirely of old spanners by a very gifted artist.
This massive marlin was constructed from 3,000 – 4,000 spanners and took the artist, John Piccolo, 8 months to complete. He sculpts entirely from memory, never drawing up a plan. Unfortunately John has since died, but the beautiful park-like grounds of their home that display his amazing sculptures are being cared for by his son.
Lake Tyrrell
Continuing our northwesterly journey we finally arrived at Lake Tyrrell which is a salt lake that covers nearly 21,000 hectares. 100,000 tonnes of salt is extracted here yearly. During winter about 5cm of water percolates up to cover the lake giving it a perfect mirror finish.
Tyrrell is derived from the indigenous word for sky. With minimal light pollution and unobstructed views of the sky it is a perfect place for viewing the night sky. The Boorong Aboriginal people of the area have many astronomical traditions and stories regarding the constellations. Alongside the boardwalk pictured above is the SkyLounge, a circle of reclined seating to facilitate stargazing.
The Darling River Run
The river is known as the Baaka by indigenous people, but in 1829 was renamed the Darling River after the governor of New South Wales by Captain Charles Sturt. The original indigenous name is being increasingly used these days.
The river became an important transport route in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s transporting supplies to the river towns while taking wool back downstream in barges and paddle steamers.
During times of drought or low rainfall the Darling/Baaka may become just a series of waterholes, though when it’s in flood it can be up to 80 kilometres wide. For the last few months outback Queensland has been receiving good rains so we’re expecting a good flow in the river.
18th – 21st May.
Wentworth to Menindee Lakes
In Wentworth we restocked food, water and fuel in preparation for the trip.
Pooncarie is about 100km north. We travel past expansive vineyards, fields of harvested wheat and salt bush country running sheep. Feral goats are also numerous.
Pooncarie has a population of 65. This is the first of the port towns we’ll come to. The Darling/Baaka River is lined with the largest River Red Gums I’ve ever seen. Our campsite for tonight is a wonderful spot beside the river.
Another 100km or so north will bring us to The Menindee Lakes system. The road is sealed and an easy drive. There was very little agriculture to be seen as we drove through mulga country and saltbush plains. Some sheep were grazing, kangaroos and emus were seen occasionally but feral goats were predominant. There’s been minimal traffic on this road so seeing a cyclist was a surprise. Soon after we passed him we stopped for a cuppa alongside the Darling/Baaka River and invited him to join us. He’s doing just what we’re doing – exploring the Darling River Run, but by bike rather than vehicle.
For many years now there has been controversy surrounding the management of the Darling River. It came to a head in 2018 and again last year with massive fish kills in the Menindee region. Vision of kilometre after kilometre of dead fish floating in the river was a disturbing sight on the television screens of Aussies around the country. An inquiry laid the blame fair and square on poor decision making that allowed excessive water to be removed for agriculture and mines upstream, reducing the flow downstream and preventing the life-giving flooding of the plains surrounding the river. Despite this, legislation still hasn’t sorted out the problem adequately.
As it was drizzling and chilly when we arrived in Menindee we decided to find our camp now and explore tomorrow. Faced with way too many choices we finally settled on the shore of Lake Pamamaroo, one of the several lakes that make up the Menindee Lakes System.
The tourism association for the central Darling has produced an excellent app which covers each of the towns and has developed tourist drives to follow that took us to historical and current points of interest. I highly recommend this app when you do the “Run”.
The Menindee Lake System depends on upstream flood water from the Darling/Baaka. Weirs, dams, levees and regulators were constructed to capture the overflow waters, retaining it in the lakes for agricultural use. This prevents the return of that water to the river.
Note the huge flock of pelicans – top left of photo.
One of the properties that depended on the River and Lakes was Kinchega Station Homestead. A large vegetable garden, fruit trees, meat and milk allowed the Hughes family and their staff of up to 70 to be self-sufficient from 1871 until it was abandoned in 1956 following flood inundation, though running sheep and shearing continued until 1967. A lovely short walk took us around the Homestead remains, alongside the river and past the station cemetery.
In 1880 the property was running 160,000 sheep. It’s thought that 6 million sheep were sheared in this shearing shed between 1875 and 1967 at which time the National Parks took over management of the property.
22nd – 26th May
Broken Hill to Mutawintji National Park, via Silverton
The road along the river between Menindee and Wilcannia (the next town on the Run) is closed, but we’re happy to detour via Broken Hill, a city we’ve not visited before.
In 1885 a boundary rider discovered a rich ore lode which turned out to be 7km long and 220 metres wide – and Broken Hill was born. The mining of silver, lead and zinc continues still in what is known as The Silver City.
The Line of Lode miners memorial sits high over the city on the edge of the tailings and pays respect to the young lives lost – more than 800. Thankfully mining accidents are few these days.
We enjoyed a wander around Broken Hill. The beautiful architecture of the public buildings on Argent St and the many workers’ cottages make it an attractive mining city – not a description I would use for many mining cities in Australia. Some of the residential cottages are in their original state but a lot have been renovated and are very pretty.
Pro Hart was a famous Australian artist who lived in Broken Hill all his life. His gallery is open to the public. A talented man. He had a passion for Rolls Royces and painted one of them.
Silverton and its surrounds, only 24 km up the road, has been the location for many movies and commercials – more than 140!
Some of these include Last Cab to Darwin, A Town Like Alice, the TV series Dirtwater Dynasty, and of course the well-known The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Mad Max 2. The rustic and historic charm of Silverton as well as many months of clear blue skies is a desirable feature for filming.
The stunning desert landscape, the historical buildings and the John Dyson art gallery all made the trip one we were pleased to have done.
Back in Broken Hill we lunched at The Palace Hotel, made famous in the movie Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
The Living Desert
To the north of Broken Hill is an area known as The Living Desert. In 1993 twelve artists from around the world worked for 6 weeks on huge sandstone blocks placed on top of a hill. These sculptures each tell a different story and all are striking in their position in this desert landscape.
Alongside the sculptures is a walk through a desert flora and fauna reserve leading into an indigenous cultural walk. The information and exhibits along this trail amazed us.
Tonight’s accommodation is at the Starview Primitive Campground. Starview, yes – with no light pollution it’s a perfect spot for stargazing. But ‘primitive’, no! – hot showers, flushing toilets and a spacious flat camping area were appreciated.
Mutawintji National Park
Mutawintji NP is located in the semi-arid lands north-east of Broken Hill. The bushwalking at Mutawintji came highly recommended by our pals Trish and Bryan, so that’s today’s destination.
Mid afternoon we set off on the Mutawintji Gorge walk. A pleasant 6km walk into the gorge then rock-hopping up the gorge past rock pools to reach the end. We saw a couple of kangaroos, but dozens of feral goats!
Next morning we headed off on the 7.5km, Grade 5 hike (ie high rate of difficulty) to do the Bynguano Loop hike. The grading was accurate as we scrambled up steep hills covered in loose rocks, rock-hopped along the creek, squeezed through clefts in the rock, and descended one section with the aid of a knotted rope. But, on the other hand, the gorge was beautiful, the rock pools and creek reflected the gums in all their majesty, the aboriginal rock art under the overhangs caused us to pause to think of the people who lived here for so many centuries, climbing steeply up the Bynguano Range we admired the maze of valleys and even more stunning gorges as we rested, and the sense of achievement on completion worth all that effort.
27th – 31st May
Wilcannia – Brewarrina
We left Mutawintji via the unsealed backroad shortcut to rejoin “The Run”. This route took us through farm properties. At every paddock boundary which crossed the road a gate needed to be opened then subsequently closed, and there were a lot!
Returning to the Darling River at Wilcannia we followed it out of town to a fabulous campsite amongst the trees alongside the river. The facilities here are so new that the beautiful brand new gas barbecues haven’t even been connected to the gas yet. Oh well. Another magic night under the stars and red gums beside the Darling – can’t complain. Sealed roads are a thing of the past now and total focus required to avoid the many washouts.
Trilby Homestead and Station
More dirt, more dust, more (many more) washouts brought us to Trilby Station, a 320,000 acre working sheep and goat station situated on the banks of the Darling River at Louth. Camped alongside the lagoon which fills from the Darling River after rain we’re looking forward to exploring the Station over the next two days.
After a peaceful night we set out early with the “mud map” to explore this huge Station. There’s over 90km of tracks to explore on the property using the mud maps. The information booklet that goes with it explains what we’re seeing and why it’s that way.
The main homestead is built on a slight rise. When the Darling River floods the floodwaters spread out over this flat country for many kilometers, however the Homestead stays just above the flood waters. Liz (the owner) explains they can be cut off from the rest of the property and all road access for a few days up to months at a time. During those times Gary and sons Tom and Will go by boat several kilometers inland where they have a hangar, a Cessna and a runway. Moving the sheep to sections that remain dry is critical.
While clouds make for a magnificent sunset they also herald changing weather conditions. Tomorrow it is forecast to rain. We were planning to leave anyway, but Liz suggested we leave earlier rather than later because once the rain starts the roads will be closed.
We completed the last of the unsealed roads today as we headed to Bourke. Bourke is another port town on the Darling but, unlike the other small towns we’ve passed through Bourke is a thriving metropolis of about 2,400 people. We’ve visited Bourke previously so, maintaining our “River Run”, after some grocery shopping we only stopped to see the old wharf. The Darling/Baaka here is much bigger than downstream, though still just as muddy.
Moving on we camped the night in Brewarrina on the banks of the Barwon River where the Darling River Run officially ends. Brewarrina was a great spot to end this leg of our adventure. Its claim to fame is the site of the oldest man-made structure in the World still in existence.
The rocks are arranged such that as the fish swim upstream they are channeled into a large pen. When enough fish are captured rocks are placed across the entrance to prevent their escape. They are then herded further on to smaller rock-formed holding pens to be either caught by hand or speared as required. Rock placement allows the smaller fish to escape. Early reports talk of thousands of aboriginals from several tribes gathered here at times for corroborees. European settlement in the area destroyed much of the integrity of the traps over many years. In recent times, the local indigenous people have been repairing them as much as possible, but hundreds of meters of fish traps has been lost.
And so concludes our journey north along the Darling River Run.
