Since its launch in 2003, tens of thousands of adventurers from all parts of the globe have embarked upon the Golden Quest Trail. The Trail provides a rewarding exploration of a region that has contributed significantly to the fortunes of Australia as a nation. Indeed, Western Australia’s Goldfields is a region of surprisingly diverse landscapes, of remarkably rich history and heritage, and of memorable experiences for the contemporary traveller.

On behalf of the Board of the Golden Quest Discovery Trail Association Inc., welcome to our territory. It’s no longer an actual ‘wild west’ frontier but it remains a vibrant force in furthering our nation’s well-being.

Explore woodlands and the goldrush past on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail. Complimenting the guide book, the new FREE app provides additional interpretive and regional information

PURCHASE TRAIL GUIDEBOOK & DOWNLOAD AUDIO

DOWNLOAD FREE APP ON ITUNES

DOWNLOAD FREE APP ON GOOGLE PLAY

COMPANION DRIVES

If you are driving to the Goldfields, depending on where you are driving from, there are a number of drive experiences that make ideal companion drives to the Golden Quest Discovery Trail:

Map of the Golden Quest trail also showing the Freen Trail Great Western Woodlands itinerary

TrailTales

We are delighted to bring you Trail Tales, our ‘What’s Happening’ on the Trail. We will be constantly updating the information on these pages, so make sure you keep updated with posts from our guest travellers, events and famils, and with some enticers from the Guidebook.

  • Special Guest Posts

    Five unique places to stay in Goldfields

    Published 29th July 2015

    Feeling a bit dusty? Caravan getting a bit cramped? Whether you’re just desperate for a hot shower or keen to dive in deep and learn more about this special corner of the world, these top spots will have you refreshed, enlightened and ready to hit the road a… Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    What's good in the Goldfields? Tell us to win!

    Published 29th July 2015

    Simply share with us what you are most looking forward to doing on your next trip to the Goldfields of Western Australia and you could win one of ten copies of the Golden Quest Discovery Trail PDF Guidebook that we’re giving away.

    The PDF version of the gui… Read More

  • Gold Prospecting

    Prospecting on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail

    Published 29th July 2015 © Tourism WA – Kalgoorlie Boulder, WA.

    With the gold price hitting new highs ($1720USD per ounce as at March 2021), and the recent popularity of the Discovery channel show Aussie Gold H… Read More

    Two prospectors looking for gold in outback Western Australia
  • Guidebook Excerpts

    Goldfields Women - resourceful, resilient and determined

    Published 29th July 2015

    Reading the often-rollicking accounts of early life on the Goldfields, the dominant impression is of one great ‘Boy’s own Adventure’. But women were not missing from the action. They may have been overwhelmingly outnumbered, but those who ventured out to the… Read More

    Japanese 'working girls'
  • Special Guest Posts

    Golden Questers - R Anderson

    Published 29th July 2015

    Since its launch in 2003, tens of thousands of adventurers have embarked upon the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, making it one of Australia’s most popular self-drive trails.

    With so much to do and to explore, we asked some ‘Golden Questers’ about the h… Read More

  • Golden Questers

    Golden Questers - Alex Garner

    Published 29th July 2015

    Since its launch in 2003, tens of thousands of adventurers have embarked upon the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, making it one of Australia’s most popular self-drive trails.

    With so much to do and to explore, we asked some ‘Golden Questers’ about the highl… Read More

  • Golden Questers

    Golden Quester - Marion Halliday

    Published 29th July 2015

    Since its launch in 2003, tens of thousands of adventurers have embarked upon the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, making it one of Australia’s most popular self-drive trails.

    With so much to do and to explore, we asked some of our golden questers about the … Read More

  • Golden Questers

    Golden Questers - Jo and Paul Cox

    Published 29th July 2015

    Since its launch in 2003, tens of thousands of adventurers have embarked upon the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, making it one of Australia’s most popular self-drive trails.

    With so much to do and to explore, we asked some of our golden questers about the … Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    Genealogy and the Goldfields - A family history Mecca

    Published 29th July 2015

    Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the wider Goldfields region is Wongatha Country and home to many Aboriginal family groups with a sacred connection to the land. Since the discovery of Gold in Coolgardie in 1892, the region became a beacon for prospectors and pastoralist… Read More

    Genealogy in the Goldfields of Western Australia blog header for the Golden Quest Discovery Trail
  • Trail Sites

    Golden Quest Companion Road Trips through Outback Australia

    Published 29th July 2015

    Western Australia is the Road Trip State! Whether you’re passing through or here to explore the region for a while, we’ve got a list of itineraries to make your travels throughout the outback of Western Australia just like having your own tour guide in the car… Read More

  • Trail Sites

    Photographers can't go past this pub in Coolgardie, Western Australia

    Published 29th July 2015

     

    Built in 1898, the two-storied brick and iron Marvel Bar hotel is a classic example of early Federation Free Classical architecture in Australia and has got to be Coolgardie’s most photographed pub.

    The pity is, it hasn’t been licensed since 1… Read More

    Feature image - Coolgardie Marvel Bar Hotel c.1898
  • Special Guest Posts

    A History of 'The Round'

    Published 29th July 2015 Entrants in the Fashions on the Field competition

    It is without doubt one of the biggest, most colourful and successful racing carnivals to be staged anywhere in Australia. It is steep… Read More

    Fashions on the field entrants at the Kalgoorlie Boulder Racing Club
  • Trail Sites

    Niagara Dam - Site 8 Golden Quest Discovery Trail

    Published 29th July 2015

    What a surprising sight Niagara Dam is ! And what a folly it was to build it !

    Constructed in 1897 – 98, the intention was that the dam would provide plentiful water for the locomotives along the new rail link between Kalgoorlie and Menzies. By the time the… Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    Titanic Sinks – How the Goldfields Heard!!!

    Published 29th July 2015

    Titanic Sinks – How the Goldfields Heard!!!

    April 14, 2017 By Moya Sharp

    On  the 14th April 1912, 103 yrs ago today the SS Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg. The following is a copy of the newspaper article from the 16th April 1912 from the Kalgoo… Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Download The Golden Quest Trail app

    Published 29th July 2015

    The new Golden Quest Trail App is available in the iPhone app store. Download it today.

    … Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    Sanitary Carter's End

    Published 29th July 2015

    Sanitary Carter’s Tragic End
    January 22, 2017 By Moya Sharp

    Kalgoorlie Western Argus Tuesday 11 March 1902.
    A carter named Charles Noell, an employee of Mr O Sloss, met with a terrible death, yesterday morning through being jolted off his cart on … Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Drive Yourself Wild on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail

    Published 29th July 2015

     

    Goldfields Tourism Manager, Neil McGilp, escorted Tourism WA European Marketing Manager, Stefanie Bischof, around the Goldfields .

    Stefanie promotes WA to travellers in Germany and Switzerland, both great tourism markets for the Goldfields region. It … Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    Mulline - Ghost Town - near Site 21 Ularring Soak on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail

    Published 29th July 2015

    Mulline – Ghost Town
    October 8, 2016 By Moya Sharp

    Mulline was the most important town in the Ularring district. This was after the Government erected the State Battery there in 1899. It crushed ore from nearly 100 claims, mostly worked by their owners… Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Golden Quest Discovery Trail and Goldfields Tourism at the 2016 Perth Royal Show

    Published 29th July 2015

    Manager Neil McGilp and support officer Liz Cayzer along with an army of volunteers manned the display at the Perth Royal Show this year. The prospectors pit was a hit again for the kids with over 4000 kids enjoying the experience !

    Look forward to doing it… Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Golden Quest Discovery Trail Finalist in Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards 2016

    Published 29th July 2015

    Breaking news !

    Golden Quest Discovery Trail is a finalist in the Perth Airport WA Tourism Awards for 2016.

    Category: Cultural Tourism

    Awards night is the 12th November in Perth, best of luck everyone.

    … Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Are you China ready in the Goldfields ?

    Published 29th July 2015

    A recent visit to the Goldfields by Fion Zhang from Enjoy Going ( Australia ), a Chinese Inbound Tour Operator, who designs unique Western Australian itineraries for Chinese Travellers.

    Fion has visited the Goldfields twice now and is in the final stages of… Read More

  • Guidebook Excerpts

    Gold, Gold for Western Australia

    Published 29th July 2015

    The 17th September 1892 was a landmark day in the fortunes of Western Australia. With the sun dipping towards the west, a young prospector named Arthur Bayley rode into Southern Cross with 554 ounces of gold in his saddlebags. The last of the great Australia… Read More

  • Trail Sites

    Credo Homestead

    Published 29th July 2015

    Credo Homestead, on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail, is a former pastoral station and is now a Conservation Reserve which was purchased as water catchment for Rowles Lagoon, site 23 on the trail.

    See the history of Credo Station in the updated onl… Read More

  • Special Guest Posts

    Not Just a Presidents Wife – Lou Henry Hoover

    Published 29th July 2015 Lou Henry Hoover in Kalgoorlie 1902

    Lou Henry Hoover was the wife of Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States of America. There has been a great deal written about … Read More

  • Guidebook Excerpts

    Hooshtah! The Afghans and their camels

    Published 29th July 2015

    Between 1860 and the early 1920’s, it’s estimated that some 2,000 Muslim camel-drivers were plying their trade within Australia’s vast interior. Having inherited centuries of experience in their homelands, they were expert in traversing desert terrain by… Read More

  • Guidebook Excerpts

    John Aspinall

    Published 29th July 2015

    In February 1895, at the age of 21, John Aspinall set off from his home at Skippers Point on New Zealand’s South island, bound for far-distant Coolgardie. Before he boarded ship at Dunedin, he was warned ‘not to go on any account’. One old man ‘who h… Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    USA Travel blogger Matt Logan

    Published 29th July 2015

    Tourism WA recently invited American travel blogger Matt Logan to visit the Goldfields of Western Australia. Mandi Warry, Manager of Goldfields Tourism Network, recently spent two days escorting Matt on the Golden Quest Discovery Trail from Coolgardie to Leonora. Read More

  • Trail Events & Famils

    Mega Famil

    Published 29th July 2015

    Goldfields Tourism Network recently hosted over 60 travel agents and travel managers from across Germany and Austria on a four day visit to the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

    Sponsored by Tourism WA and Australia’s Golden Outback, our internation… Read More

  • Golden Quest Partners

    Outback Parks and Lodges

    Published 29th July 2015

    Outback Parks and Lodges provide accommodation for tourists travelling through remote areas. Their Lodge and Park style accommodation complexes offer comfortable, clean, and affordable accommodations to suit a variety of traveller needs in the Goldfields Regio… Read More

  • Guidebook Excerpts

    Menzies Railway comes to town

    Published 29th July 2015

    The biggest day of celebration in the history of Menzies took place on 22 March 1898. A crowd of some 3,000 people had gathered for the official opening of the Kalgoorlie-Menzies railway. Two trains steamed into town within an hour of each other. The first was… Read More

the golden quest discovery trail is made possible by the generous support of these organisations

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