5 WA towns where history comes to life

No matter where you travel in Western Australia, chances are you’ll uncover an interesting story from the past.

Learning about a place’s history gives you a deeper appreciation for how it became what it is today, and you don’t need to be a history buff to enjoy the journey back in time.

From pearl luggers in Broome to gold rush relics in Kalgoorlie, these WA towns are filled with fascinating museums, heritage sites and stories that are well worth the detour.

1. Broome

Famous for camel rides along Cable Beach and fiery Indian Ocean sunsets, Broome is far more than a postcard-perfect holiday town. Beneath the tropical tourism charm lies one of the most fascinating and multicultural histories in Australia.

Home to the Yawuru people for tens of thousands of years, Broome officially became a town in 1883 and quickly transformed into the pearling capital of the world. By the early 1900s, more than 400 pearl luggers operated off the coast, drawing workers from Japan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and beyond to harvest pearls from the waters of Roebuck Bay.

The town’s layered history continues through World War II, when Broome became the site of one of the deadliest attacks on Australian soil. In 1942, Japanese fighter planes launched an air raid on the undefended town, killing at least 88 people and destroying aircraft in Roebuck Bay.

There are stories around almost every corner in Broome. You can step aboard restored pearling vessels at Pearl Luggers by Willie Creek, discover the town’s multicultural past at the Broome Museum, or learn about one of Australia’s oldest family-run pearling operations at Cygnet Bay Pearls.

Another hidden gem is the Yu Family Historical Display, which tells the story of the Yu family’s contribution to Broome’s pearling and pastoral industries across generations.

Broome is also home to the world’s oldest operating outdoor cinema, Sun Pictures, originally established in the early 1900s and still screening films under the stars today.

And just beyond town, the coastline reveals an even older story. The Broome Dinosaur Coast contains one of the world’s most diverse collections of dinosaur footprints, with more than 20 different track types preserved in the red sandstone along the Dampier Peninsula — evidence that prehistoric giants once roamed this part of Australia.

2. Albany

Albany might be known for its dramatic coastline and turquoise beaches today, but it also holds some of the most significant stories in Western Australia’s history.

Established in 1826, before Perth’s Swan River Colony, Albany was the first European settlement in WA. Long before colonisation, the region was home to the Menang Noongar people for tens of thousands of years.

Military history is deeply woven into the town’s identity. Perched high above King George Sound on Mount Clarence is the National ANZAC Centre, one of Australia’s most powerful war museums. Albany was the departure point for the first convoy of ANZAC troops leaving for World War I in 1914, and the centre shares immersive stories of the soldiers who embarked from these shores.

Albany also played a major role in Australia’s whaling industry. The now heritage-listed Albany Historic Whaling Station was the last operating whaling station in the country before it closed in 1978. Today, visitors can walk through the remarkably preserved site and learn about an era that shaped the town’s economy and identity for decades.

But some of Albany’s most fascinating stories are found in unexpected places.

Tucked inside a former church hall, the Wesley Wedding Gown Collection is a unique community-run museum featuring beautifully preserved wedding dresses dating from the Victorian era through to modern times.

For an even older chapter of Albany’s history, visit Strawberry Hill at Barmup — the oldest colonial farm in Western Australia. Established in 1827 to help supply food to the military outpost at King George Sound, the historic property resembles a picturesque English country estate surrounded by gardens and rolling hills.

Elsewhere in town, the Museum of the Great Southern and Albany Historical Society continue to preserve and share stories of Albany’s maritime history, early settlers, Menang culture and life on WA’s southern coast.

3. Geraldton

From shipwrecks and wartime stories to Aboriginal language and Spanish-inspired architecture, Geraldton’s history stretches far beyond its coastal views and famous pink lake day trips.

Located on WA’s Coral Coast, Geraldton has long been an important port town shaped by maritime trade, migration, fishing and Aboriginal culture. The region is the traditional home of the Yamaji people, whose stories and connection to Country continue to shape the identity of the Mid West today.

One of the town’s most significant historic attractions is the Museum of Geraldton, home to fascinating exhibitions on the Batavia shipwreck — one of Australia’s most infamous maritime disasters. Visitors can see artefacts recovered from the wreck and learn about the dramatic mutiny, survival and conflict that unfolded after the Dutch ship sank off the WA coast in 1629.

Geraldton’s wartime history also runs deep. The moving HMAS Sydney II Memorial honours the 645 crew lost during World War II after the Australian warship sank off the WA coast in 1941. Nearby, the Birdwood Military Museum houses an extensive collection of military memorabilia, uniforms and wartime artefacts spanning multiple conflicts.

The town also offers opportunities to engage with Aboriginal culture and language through the Irra Wangga Language Centre, which works to preserve and promote Yamaji languages and cultural knowledge throughout the region.

Another unexpected historic gem is the Monsignor Hawes Heritage Centre, dedicated to the remarkable life and architectural legacy of Monsignor John Hawes, the priest and architect responsible for designing many of the Mid West’s distinctive churches and buildings in the early 1900s.

For those wanting to dive deeper into local stories, the Geraldton Historical Society preserves photographs, documents and personal records capturing everyday life in the Mid West across generations, while the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery regularly showcases exhibitions exploring local identity, heritage and culture through contemporary art.

4. Busselton

Busselton is one of WA’s most loved holiday towns with its bustling foreshore and world-famous jetty, but it also has a fascinating history shaped by maritime trade and farming.

Long before European settlement, the region was home to the Wardandi Noongar people, known as Undalup. Busselton was officially established in 1832 following the arrival of the Bussell family, becoming one of the earliest settlements in Western Australia.

The town’s most iconic landmark, the Busselton Jetty, tells much of that story. Stretching 1.84 kilometres into Geographe Bay, it remains the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and has become one of WA’s most recognisable attractions.

Construction on the jetty began in the 1860s, originally built to help ships load timber, livestock and agricultural goods from the shallow waters of the bay and became a critical lifeline for the South West’s booming timber and farming industries.

Visitors can now ride the solar-powered jetty train to the end of the structure and go below the ocean surface at the Underwater Observatory, to see the colourful marine life surrounding the jetty pylons.

Just inland from the foreshore, the Busselton Museum offers another glimpse into the town’s evolution. Housed inside the former Butter Factory precinct beside the Vasse River, the museum traces Busselton’s agricultural and dairy farming past through maritime artefacts, historic machinery and preserved settler buildings.

The factory itself was established during the dairy boom of the early 1900s, when hundreds of farms operated throughout the region and produced tonnes of butter each week at its peak.

Another fascinating stop is the Busselton Cultural Precinct near the jetty end of Queen Street, where some of the town’s oldest civic buildings have been transformed into creative and cultural spaces.

5. Kalgoorlie

Born from the chaos and excitement of the 1893 gold rush, Kalgoorlie remains one of Australia’s most iconic mining towns. It's a place where enormous gold pits, grand heritage buildings and red dirt landscapes tell stories of fortunes won and lost.

Known traditionally as Karlkurla by the Wongutha people, the town exploded almost overnight after Irish prospector Paddy Hannan discovered gold near Mount Charlotte, triggering one of the biggest gold rushes in Australian history. Thousands of fortune seekers poured into the harsh outback in search of wealth, transforming the Goldfields into a booming frontier settlement.

More than 130 years later, traces of that era are still everywhere. Wide streets lined with ornate pubs and historic buildings sit alongside giant haul trucks and active mining operations, creating a fascinating blend of old and new.

One of the best places to step into Kalgoorlie’s past is the Museum of the Goldfields on Hannan Street. Visitors can wander through a recreated miner’s cottage, explore early mining relics and see impressive displays of real gold nuggets and bars inside the museum’s secure vault.

For more mining history, visit Hannans North Tourist Mine and climb aboard enormous retired haul trucks, try gold panning and get a firsthand sense of the scale of modern mining in the region. The site also offers access to views of the famous Super Pit — a massive open-cut gold mine so large it can be seen from space.

Kalgoorlie’s story extends well beyond gold.

Inside the historic Boulder Town Hall, the Goldfields War Museum preserves deeply personal stories of local soldiers who served in conflicts from the Boer War through to modern peacekeeping missions. The region’s much older cultural history is also being preserved through the Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre, which works to protect and revitalise Aboriginal languages across the Goldfields.

Discover more WA stories and history with the itinerary builder on the WAnderland website and start planning your next adventure.

Banner image: Courtesy of WAnderland