West of Sydney, beyond the sandstone curtain of the Blue Mountains, is a region of subtle beauty, a place of wide open landscapes under a huge clear sky, endless fields dotted with grazing sheep and cattle, parched hills and dry river beds in summer and cool, crisp days in winter. The central west hides a wealth of Australian history and some great country attractions, which makes this a good drive to do with children, with lots to see and do and short distances between towns.
This drive begins on the Great Western Highway 7 km west of Lithgow (152 km west of Sydney), at the turn off to Mudgee. Follow this road past the massive water vapour stacks of Wallerwang and over the range 70 km to Ilford and turn left to Sofala. This is the start of Tourist Drive Four, which ultimately branches off to Bathurst or Mudgee. Sofala is 27 km down the road, which includes a short unsealed section that – like all the unsealed sections in this drive – is in good condition, dusty but easy to drive. An alternative 45 km sealed road runs from Bathurst.
Sofala claims to be the oldest surviving gold town in Australia, dating from the beginnings of the gold rush in May 1851. The main street once stretched for 16km and the population numbered tens of thousands. Today, Sofala is a sleepy little village on the banks of the Turon River, where the café is also the souvenir shop and post office and your sandwiches have to wait until the mail’s been sorted.
The river is a good place for fossicking for gold. You can buy fossicking equipment at the souvenir shop or pick up a free leaflet detailing a historical town walk and some local drives.
Like Sofala, Hill End, 38 km west on an unsealed road, is a ghost of its former grandeur – it was once one of the largest inland towns in New South Wales. In 1872, Beyers and Holtermann discovered the largest single mass of gold found in Australia, and Hill End became a place where fortunes were made overnight. By 1874 there was a mile of shops, 28 hotels, five banks, several opium dens, an oyster bar, two newspapers and a brewery. The town population climbed to more than 8000, with more in outlying areas.
Today the population numbers about 100, many of whom are descendents of original Hill End gold miners and fossickers. It is now a national historic site, managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Most of the buildings date back to the 1870s, when the gold rush was at its height.
Wander through the village streets and read the various interpretive boards detailing what once stood on each spot. The National Parks Centre is in the old hospital building and includes a museum filled with village artefacts and photographs of Hill End in its halcyon days, as well as a 15-minute video telling the history of the town through a series of original photographs.
On the outskirts of town, History Hill displays memorabilia from the 1850s to the 1890s as well as mineral and gold exhibits. You can take a tour of the underground Son of Hope gold mine.
From Hill End, a pretty one hour’s drive along an unsealed road through tiny gold rush towns leads to Mudgee, a food and wine lovers’ haven.
Mudgee was first settled in the 1830s, after William Lawson discovered good grazing land on the banks of the Cudgegong River in 1821. Although in the heart of gold-rush territory, Mudgee has always been a centre for grazing and farming. Wool, and more recently wine, are the town’s major industries.
Around 30 wineries are situated in and around Mudgee, most open to the public for tastings and cellar door sales. Many are small, boutique operations, so you’ll find labels you haven’t seen before in retail bottle shops. The region is best known for its reds and ports. Pick up a copy of the free Mudgee and Gulgong visitor’s guide from the Visitors Information Centre in Mudgee for directions and details of opening times.
A centre for small farming, (Mudgee hosts the annual Small Farm Field Days on the third weekend in July) many farmers are specialising in gourmet and boutique food products. There are three different gourmet food and wine trails you can follow (maps available at the visitors centre) where you can try olives, local venison, fish, honey and of course, lots of wine. You can also taste the district’s bounty at Heart of Mudgee in Court Street. Here the shelves groan under the weight of jams, pickles, honey, sauces, olives and oils, mustards, verjuice, nuts, pastes and tapenades. In the middle of the shop is a huge tasting and sampling table – but be warned, it’s very hard to leave this place without a shopping bag of goodies to take home with you.
With its crooked, narrow streets overhung with wooden verandahs trimmed with iron lace, Gulgong, 25 km north of Mudgee, is instantly recognisable (for those old enough to remember) as the town portrayed on the old paper $10 note. The town’s claim to fame is its close association with poet and story teller Henry Lawson who went to school in nearby Eurunderee, about midway between Mudgee and Gulgong along Henry Lawson Drive – although there is nothing left of the old bark school these days, except for a commemorative plaque. Nearby is a picnic area memorial to the writer at the site of his old home – although the only relic left is the fireplace and chimney.
The Henry Lawson Centre in Gulgong tells the history of Lawson and his career, his family and his association with the area. It is the largest collection of Lawson material outside the Mitchell Library in Sydney. The centre is host to the annual celebration of Lawson’s birthday in June.
Gulgong was established during the gold rush when Tom Sunders discovered gold lying on the ground at nearby Red Hill in 1870. The town’s life and times has been preserved not only in the many old buildings along the main street, but in the photographs of Charles Bayliss and Beaufoy Merlin. These photographs, known as the Holtermann Collection, consist of more than 500 original negatives taken in Gulgong and Hill End and accurately portray life in these two boomtowns at the height of the gold rush in 1872. You can view some of these photographs at Gulgong Pioneers Museum. This huge museum includes tools and firearms, needlework and clothing, gold mining equipment, an old hotel bar, old shops, vehicles and coaches, war memorabilia, a school house and a settler’s cottage – and is worth spending a few hours ferreting among the displays.
From Gulgong head north-west to Wellington to visit Wellington Caves. The turn-off on the Mitchell Highway is hard to miss, marked by the Wellington Gateway - a huge, fantastic and grotesque wind chime made from the girders of the old Wellington Bridge, which fell down in 1989 leaving the town isolated until a new one could be built. The controversial sculpture is described as “echoing the image of a cave with metallic stalactites” and is constructed in the shape of a giant seed pod, “representing the fertility of the valley”.
The caves reserve includes two show caves – Cathedral and Gaden caves – and a series of smaller caves. These are limestone caves, with wonderful displays of stalagmites and stalactites, including what is reputed to be the world’s largest stalagmite, ‘the alter’. There are regular guided tours of these caves but there are steps involved. Also in the reserve is a restored phosphate mine, which apart from a few palaeontologists looking for fossils, has remained virtually untouched for the past 80 years. The first visitors to the cave were ancient bats who left behind tonnes of droppings or guano, rich in phosphates. The New South Wales Phosphate Company began mining the cave in 1913. By the time the mine was abandoned five years later, 6000 tonnes of phosphate had been removed for fertiliser. The walls of the Bone Cave in the eastern loop of the mine are embedded with thousands of fragments and fossils. Lit by ultra-violet light, the ancient bones glow eerily in the darkness. The 350m-long mine cave has been developed with easy access in mind so it is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers. Most tours take around an hour and a half.
From Wellington head west to Dubbo, last stop on this drive tour. Dubbo is a major administrative and shopping centre for the central west, and the last sizeable town before the endless flat plains that stretch west of Nyngan and Bourke to outback NSW.
On the outskirts of Dubbo is the Western Plains Zoo, an innovative open-range zoo where animals roam natural bushland and fences are hard to find. You can drive around the zoo but most people hire a bike. A great way to see the animals is to stay at Zoofari Lodge, a group of canvas, en-suite cabins inside the zoo grounds, where you’ll be lulled to sleep by the monkeys’ cries and lions’ growls. The nightly tariff includes accommodation, three meals, entry to the zoo, bicycle hire and behind-the-scenes guided tours led by zoo keepers. You can visit the nursery and animal hospital, join the keepers on morning and afternoon feeding rounds inside the animal enclosures and visit the nocturnal animals after dinner when they are at their most frisky.
Alternatively, join an early-morning zoo walk. Highlights of the four-kilometre walk include the black rhinoceros conservation complex, a visit to the giraffes’ night house, a performance by the very vocal Siamang apes (these are the ones you will hear singing night-long lullabies if you stay at the lodge) and an optional breakfast.
Two kilometres past the zoo is the National Trust Dundullimal Homestead, the oldest standing slab homestead in Australia. Built in 1841, the homestead and stable buildings provide a glimpse into what life must have been like for our wealthy settlers and squatters. There are farm animals for the children to pet and a woolshed café serving light meals. During school holidays you can watch a saddler create whips and leather goods.
Another great attraction is Old Dubbo Gaol in the main street. Last used as a prison in 1966, the sandstone gaol built in the 1870s housed – and hanged – many of the central west’s most notorious outlaws. You can wander through the cells – many with animatronic models who tell the story of real-life prisoners – walk around the gallows and climb the watchtower to hear the story of an escape. Children will want to spend half a day here at least.
Yarrabar Pottery is 12 km south on the Newell Highway. Watch local potters at work or browse the massive warehouse and pick up some bargain-priced pottery. Dubbo Military Museum, also on the Newell Highway, has a large collection of planes, tanks, guns and vehicles. In the other direction, on Burraway Road, the lush flowering gardens and waterways of Jinchilla Gardens are a welcome oasis of fertility in a relatively barren landscape. They also have a good gallery.
From Dubbo, it’s around four to five hour’s drive east to Sydney along the Mitchell and Great Western highways.
Hill End is the end point of one of the NSW’s classic bush tracks - The Bridle Track. The track runs from Duramana, northwest of Bathurst, to the old mining town of Hill End. It is approximately 60 km long, and in 4WD terms, can be graded 'easy'. So easy in fact that driven carefully, a conventional vehicle could manage the entire distance, though extreme care would be required on some of the steeper, shaly sections of the road. If however, you want to experience some of the better, more isolated camp sites (on the other side of the river), a 4WD with better-than-average wading ability and low range gearing is mandatory.
Deeb’s Kitchen, just off the Ulan-Cassilis Road (one of the main winery roads leading out of town) is the place to stop for lunch when wine tasting in Mudgee. Mediterranean and Lebanese-inspired dishes using fresh local ingredients, served in a shady outdoor garden with some BYO wine from one of the many nearby vineyards – makes you want to stay all day! The local venison is delicious.
The Turon River behind the Royal Hotel in Sofala is the place to cast a line for some trout between October and June. And if the fish don’t bite – at least the pub’s not too far away.
4WD
