Located on the banks of the Darling River, and once known as the ‘Queen City of the West’, it is hard to image today, that this quiet town was once an important inland port from the 1880s onwards. With a rich pastoral history, its former grandeur can still be seen in some of the remaining architecture.
 

Located between Broken Hill and Cobar, Wilcannia is where the Barrier Highway crosses the waterway of the Darling River. Being at the juncture of the major east-west highway and the Cobb Highway (promoted as the iconic ‘Long Paddock’) which ends at Moama on the border, continuing south into Victoria as the Northern Highway.

Indigenous People
The original inhabitants of NSW have lived here for at least 45,000 years, among which there are more than 38 Aboriginal language groups, many of which overlapped with each other.

There is a sizeable Aboriginal community living in Wilcannia, as their ancestors had, being the traditional home of the Barkindji people (‘barka’ meaning ‘river’) and Paakantji people of the Darling River (which they called the Paaka). Paakantji means ‘River People’.^{1, 2}

Wilcannia, is thought to mean ‘a gap in the bank where flood waters escape’ in the local dialect.

European History
The Surveyor-General Major Thomas Mitchell was the first European to the area in 1835, who travelled along the banks of the Darling River from Bourke to what is now Menindee. Settlers soon moved into the region in the 1840s, establishing a village in the 1860s as a result of growing trade that travelled up and down the Darling. At this stage the village was known as Mount Murchison Station, a name chosen by Thomas Mitchell.

It was June 1886 that the town of Wilcannia was proclaimed, being incorporated as a municipality in 1881. During this decade Wilcannia became the third largest shipping port on the Darling River, servicing not only the river but the expanding coach and road transport travellers.

With the discovery of gold at Mount Browne, trade increase, but the larger deposit at Broken Hill and Silverton saw a decline in the town's importance. With the discovery of the opal fields at White Cliffs in the 1890s, trade to Wilcannia increased, being the central supply source for the opal miners, who came there to spend some of their wealth. With the decline in the steamer trade along the Darling, and the increase of road and rail, the town declined in importance.

Check out our listing of Wilcannia accommodation. In addition to our listed online travel guide information, contact the local tourism visitor centre for your destination for more attractions, tours, local maps and other information.