AGO Holiday Planner 2026

Murchison GeoRegion - covering seven unique outback Shires, invites you to travel through an ancient, far horizon landscape to discover stories that reach back almost to the Earth's beginning some 4.54 billion years ago. Stand under a dark night sky, where the Milky Way's full arc and "Great Emu in the Sky" can be seen in total awe and silence. A self drive Geotrail of accessible sites and virtual tours, connecting with six gold rush townships and Murchison Settlement - each with fascinating museums, art galleries and destination visitor discovery centres. & Brilliant Skies Adventure Trail Ancient Lands

LEARN about unique fauna and flora - lizards mimicking pebbles, birds, trapdoor spiders, turtles in subterranean streams and, after rain, how dazzling carpets of wildflowers colour the landscape over hundreds of kilometres after rain July - September. Bush tucker and surprising Desert Kurrajong afresh with new leaves in summer.

EXPERIENCE connection to landscape with fragments of ancient supercontinents Rodinia - Gondwana - Pangea, imbedded with meteor impact craters and seasonal lakes.

SHARE A vast quiet region hosting the world's largest and most capable radio telescope, where people deeply connected to Aboriginal, mining and pastoral cultures live and work together.

Ask a local Driving the Geotrail? Experience a Station Stay or the Karara Rangeland Park and share your journey with other trails like Outback Pathways, Monsignor Hawes Heritage Trail and local town trails. For updated information and advice, contact one of our local Visitor Information centres.

Paynes Find Roadhouse... (08) 9963 6111 Sandstone ............................ (08) 9963 5061 Wiluna.................................... (08) 9981 8009 Meekatharra........................ (08) 9980 1811 Cue.......................................... (08) 9963 1198 Mount Magnet..................... (08) 9963 4172 Yalgoo.................................... (08) 9962 8042 Murchison............................. (08) 9961 3876 For more information visit www.murchisongeoregion.com Download the Trail Guide & free app Not all Geosites are accessible - please check website or Shires for updates

Discover

Ancien lands Brillian skies

Cue–Dalgaranga Rd, 47 km southwest of Cue | Latitude: -27.398171, Longitude: 117.467870

2. Wilgie Mia

No camping

With 30,000 years of activity, Wilgie Mia is the oldest continuous mining operation in the world.

Known also as Thuwarri Thaa – The Place of Red Ochre – it holds the honour of being largest and deepest underground Aboriginal ochre mine in Australia. Ochre is a natural earth pigment containing iron oxide and was formed in the Weld Range 30–65 million years ago. It comes in various colours including red, yellow and green. When used as body paint the red ochre sparkled against the light from a fire and was seen as ‘magical’. Ochre was and still is an important part of Aboriginal culture used in ceremonies, medicines, and rock and body paintings. The red ochre from Wilgie Mia was traded across Australia as far as Ravensthorpe, the Kimberley and Queensland, as well as into Indonesia in what is believed to be the first example of international trade. Wilgie Mia was declared a protected and restricted site in 1973, acknowledging the importance it has to Aboriginal culture.

Symbol name

Trail Guidebook

i

53