We rolled into Broad Arrow under a sun that felt like it was trying to fry the last traces of sanity from the human race. This wasn’t a town in the conventional sense—no suburbs, no supermarkets, just the lonely, defiant Broad Arrow Tavern. A relic from 1896, it sits stubbornly against the ravages of time and desert, holding court over the ghosts of miners and drunks who came before.
The place reeks of authenticity—beer-soaked walls scrawled with messages from travellers, dreamers, and lunatics who passed through and needed to leave a mark, proof that they survived this far-flung speck of the outback. It’s not the kind of place you visit for the sights. No art galleries or scenic walks. This is a place to be, not to see.
The Broad Arrow Tavern has one genuine attraction: the Broady Burger. It’s a greasy, glorious monster, the kind of meal you’d fight a kangaroo for after a day sweating gold dust. Wash it down with a cold beer, and you’ll understand why this pub is still standing while the rest of the town has turned to rubble.
And what a town it once was. In the late 19th century, gold fever swept through here like a pack of rabid dingoes. Miners flocked to the place, building a booming metropolis of 2,400 souls, complete with banks, breweries, and even a Dramatic Society—because when you’re knee-deep in gold and dust, what else is there to do but act out Hamlet? But gold runs out, as does luck, and by the 1920s, Broad Arrow was just another failed dream in the vast Western Australian desert.
Now, it’s the pub, the legends, and the lingering scent of history. Even The Nickel Queen, a long-forgotten flick from 1971, couldn’t immortalise it. But the beer is cold, the stories are real, and the Broady Burger is worth every kilometre of dodging road trains that thunder past like steel-clad stampedes and rattling over corrugated dirt roads.
Broad Arrow isn’t a destination—it’s an experience. A living, breathing testament to the madness and magic of the outback. And if you’re lucky, the bar might still have your story scrawled on its walls when you come back. Or not. Out here, nothing lasts forever except the heat and the hope for another cold beer.
Check out the photo gallery here.
Thanks for rolling by! If this post fueled your van life or travel dreams, hit the like button, share it with your fellow wanderers, or shout a coffee to keep the wheels turning and the journey going! - Adam, Will and Wally.