Wyndham

For the city council in Melbourne, see Melbourne/Wyndham.

Wyndham is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, with a population of 914 in 2021. This far northern Kimberley outpost is over 3000 km from the state capital Perth, twice its distance from Bali. That means it has a tropical monsoon climate, with a dry season April-Oct, and the rest of the year is a downpour that only the crocs enjoy.

Understand

Always heed crocodile warnings

The Doolboong or Duulngari were the Aboriginal people of this area. They're no longer an identifiable group and their language is extinct, but about half the population nowadays is Aboriginal. Europeans first sighted this coast in 1819, an unpromising vista of mudflats and mangroves at the outflow of five crocodile-infested rivers, which they named the Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and Ord. Cattle ranges developed inland, but there was nothing much here until 1885, when gold was discovered at Hall's Creek and a port was created to bring in men, supplies and machinery. Afghan camels and drivers were imported to shift the heavy stuff through 370 km of baking arid terrain, while the men simply hiked it. The original town of Wyndham was at the port; it slumped into a ghost town in 1888 when the gold was exhausted.

Wyndham just-about survived, scratching a living from the cattle trade, and from 1913 a meat-packing factory was built; this was the town's main business until closing in 1985. Meanwhile town centre had rebased from the port to Three Mile, that far (yes, 5 km) inland. Its main businesses today are the port, cattle, agriculture based upon the Ord River irrigation scheme, and small-scale mining and tourism. It's governed as part of the Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley headquartered in Kununurra.

Get in

Wyndham is 100 km from Kununurra by road. Great Northern Highway is a good sealed road branching off Victoria Highway at Cockburn. A bumpier but more scenic route from Kununurra is by Parry Creek Rd / Ivanhoe Crossing, but only by 4WD and in the dry season.

Gibb River Road is a "short cut" from Derby, likewise only passable by 4WD and in the dry season. It ends at Great Northern Highway 10 km north of Cockburn junction.

1 Cockburn is the bus stop 60 km south of town on Victoria Highway. Greyhound buses eastbound from Broome and Derby to Darwin (connecting with Integrity Coaches all the way from Perth) call around 2 AM. Westbound from Darwin to Broome they call around 7 PM. You need to have a taxi cued-up at the bus stop to take you into town. There's a rest and camping area at the junction, but noise around the clock from road trains along the highways.

Wyndham air strip is east edge of town. The nearest commercial airport is Kununurra, where flights call on their way between Broome and Darwin.

Get around

You needs wheels, preferably 4WD, as the best sights are some way out.

See

• 1 Big Crocodile greets your arrival into town. It's 18 m long, one of Australia's big things; take a geeky photo and you're all done here.
• 2 Afghan Cemetery is on Kapundra St 1 km east of town. It's the resting place of 11 camel drivers, brought in along with their camels from Afghanistan in the 1890s to provide heavy goods transport between the port and Halls Creek goldfields. The graves are large plots with unnamed tombstones facing west towards Mecca; their size is because the lead camel was buried along with its owner.
• 3 Pioneer Cemetery was in use 1886-1929. How many lives should it cost to build a meat-packing factory? Here lie 12 of them.
• 4 Wyndham Museum, 1 Macphee St, ☏ +61 476 019 903. Apr-Oct daily 10AM-2PM. Housed in the old Courthouse building, the volunteer-run museum has a range of historical artefacts, documents and photos. Opening hours are erratic. (updated Jul 2024)
• Fisherman's Jetty is just west of the museum. It's a good place for saltwater crocs to relax and people-watch, especially any people that look tempted to risk a swim.
• 5 Five Rivers Lookout is reached at the end of Hugo Austla Drive (sealed) from the hospital. It's atop the 360 m Bastion Range that looms over Wyndham, with a wide view of town, the mud flats and the five rivers draining into Cambridge Gulf. It's a popular spot for a sunset barbecue.

A Red-collared Lorikeet

• 6 Koolama shipwreck lies in the mud 40 m north of the wharf. This 4000 ton merchant ship plied the coasts of Western Australia until requisitioned as a wartime troop ship. On 20 Feb 1942 it was attacked by Japanese Kawanishi flying boats, causing serious damage so it was beached, about 150 km west of town. There was an argument between the captain, who reckoned it could be refloated long enough to reach port, and the first officer who thought that unrealistic; meanwhile the passengers and crew camped in the croc-infested mangroves. Later accounts built up this story into something between Mutiny on the Bounty and Lord of the Flies but no-one got lynched or cannibalised. After five days a lugger arrived from Drysdale River, nowadays Kununurra, and took off the wounded while many of the others were guided to walk there - one man died on the trek. The ship was patched up and limped into Wyndham, staying afloat long enough to offload most of the military cargo, before rolling over in the shallows. The hulk created an obstacle in the harbour so in 1948 it was dragged to its present position, visible at low tide.

Further out

• 7 Boab Prison Tree is on King River Rd about 5 km south of Digger's Rest. It's over 2000 years old, 14 m in circumference and hollow. In the 1890s it was known as the Hillgrove Lock-up and used to hold prisoners overnight on their way to Wyndham; so unlike the boab at Derby, this one really was a prison.
• 8 The Grotto is 2 km down a dirt road signposted off Great Northern Highway. It's a small waterhole in a natural amphitheatre, reached by stairs carved into the rock.

Do

The Prison Boab

• Memorial Swimming Pool, Civic Way, ☏ +61 8 9161 1293. W-F 6-8AM, 1-5PM, Sa Su noon-5PM. The 6-lane, 25-metre pool and two toddler pools are shaded from the sun and a fun place to do a bombie on the local kids. (updated Jul 2024)
• Three Mile Valley is a pleasant hike beneath the Bastion Range. The access road branches off Hugo Austla Drive half a mile north of the hospital.

Buy

• Wyndham Supermarket, 20 Great Northern Highway, ☏ +61 8 9161 1018. M-F 7AM-6PM, Sa Su 9AM-2PM. Well-stocked supermarket, prices high but reasonable for the location. (updated Jul 2024)
• Fuel: Kimberley Motors is by the supermarket and open M-F 6AM-3PM, Sa Su 7AM-1PM. The Shell station opposite has closed down.

Eat

• Wyndham Oasis Cafe is at 56 Koolama St by the big crocodile, open M-F 7AM-9PM, Sa Su 8AM-9PM.
• Croc Cafe by the filling station is open M-Sa 7AM-3PM, Su 10AM-2PM.
• Pizzeria Orsucci next door is open W-M 7-11:30PM.

Drink

• Cafes serve alcohol. The town no longer has a free-standing pub.

Sleep

El Questro Gorge

• 1 Wyndham Caravan Park, 9 Baker Street, ☏ +61 8 9161 1064. Smart well-run park near village. Hook-up $25. (updated Jul 2024)
• 2 Rusty Wheelbarrow, 1293 Great Northern Highway, ☏ +61 476 535 911. Four rooms amid tropical gardens. (updated Jul 2024)
• 3 Parry Creek Farm, Parry Creek Rd, ☏ +61 8 9161 1139, info@parrycreekfarm.com.au. Good reviews for this away-from-it-all resort and caravan park open May-Aug: the dirt road may not be passable in the wet. It has aircon cabins, rooms and naturally ventilated camp sites. B&B double $280, hook-up $55. (updated Jul 2024)
• 4 Digger’s Rest Station, King River Road, ☏ +61 8 9161 1029. A working cattle station away down a dirt road, 4WD essential. Great setting and welcome, watch the work in the cattle yard and join the organised bush walking, horse riding and fishing. Bunkhouse $190, bush hut $160, camping $25 ppn. (updated Jul 2024)
• 5 El Questro Homestead, Gibb River Road, ☏ +61 1800 837 221. Ten upmarket suites on the Chamberlain River. You need 4WD to get here. (updated Jul 2024)
• El Questro Station 5 km east is a working cattle farm, with rooms and camping April-Oct.
• 6 Emma Gorge Resort is also run by El Questro. It has safari-style tented cabins, open May-Sep.

Connect

As of July 2024, there is no mobile signal in Wyndham or on its approach highways.

Go next

• Kununurra is a comfortable base for exploring the area, with boat trips on its barrage lake.
• Purnululu National Park is better known as the Bungle Bungles, a must-see jumble of striped sandstone domes.
• Warmun or Turkey Creek is an Aboriginal community 200 km south of Wyndham. It's an entry point to the Purnululu National Park, and has a long-standing Aboriginal arts scene.
• Derby is the first stopover heading west. Then comes Broome and the dusty expanses of Pilbara.