Broad Arrow is a ghost town

Ghost town

A ghost town is an abandoned town or city. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, or nuclear disasters...

 in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, located 38 km north of Kalgoorlie

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Kalgoorlie, known as Kalgoorlie-Boulder, is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, and is located east-northeast of state capital Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway...

 and 633 km east of Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. It is on the Kalgoorlie to Leonora

Leonora, Western Australia

Leonora is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located northeast of the state capital, Perth, and north of the city of Kalgoorlie. At the 2006 census, Leonora had a population of 401, about a third of whom are of Aboriginal descent. The area is extremely arid, with a...

 Road.

History

Initially called Kurawah, gold was first discovered there in 1893 which triggered a gold rush in the region north of Kalgoorlie. The Broad Arrow Goldfield

Mineral fields of Western Australia

Western Australian Mining is administered in terms of the administrative divisions of the:-* Gold or Mineral Field* Goldfield DistrictThere have also been various hierarchies of State Mining Engineer Inspectorate areas, as well as Mining Registrars Offices and areas.-List of fields:The following...

 was gazetted on 11 November 1896, and in 1897 the municipality of Kurawah was declared.

The town derives its name from the markers, in the shape of a broad arrow, left on the ground by a miner, Reison, who left them to direct his friends who were following him to a gold discovery he had made. His mine was also named Broad Arrow.

Extensions to the Eastern Goldfields Railway

Eastern Goldfields Railway

The Eastern Goldfields Railway was built in the 1880s to connect Perth, Western Australia with the rich goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. The narrow gauge Eastern Railway line already connected Perth with Northam, and the EGR extended this line through semi-desert to the goldfields...

 line from Kalgoorlie to Menzies

Menzies, Western Australia

Menzies is a town located in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, east-northeast of the state capital, Perth, and north-northwest of the city of Kalgoorlie...

 was begun in August 1897, and reached Broad Arrow on 6 November the same year. The railway station included a 350 ft (106.7 m) passenger platform.

At its peak the town had 15,000 residents, eight hotels and two breweries as well as a stock exchange

Stock exchange

A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...

. Other facilities included a hospital, three churches, Salvation Army Hall, a chemist, two banks, police station with resident magistrate, a mining registrar, a post office, a cordial factory, six grocery stores and two draperies, and blacksmith and bakers' shops. The town was the administrative centre for smaller settlements in the area including Ora Banda

Ora Banda, Western Australia

Ora Banda is a townsite, now a virtual ghost town, located north east of Kalgoorlie. According to folklore, the town name is Spanish meaning 'band of gold'.- History :...

, Smithfield, Black Flat, White Flag and Grant's Patch.

A 10000000 imp gal (45,460.9 kl) dam was built for the Public Works Department in Broad Arrow in 1897.

By the 1920s the gold had run out and the town had been abandoned.

The movie Nickel Queen

Nickel Queen

Nickel Queen was an Australian comedy film made in 1971 starring Googie Withers.The story was loosely based on the Poseidon bubble, a nickel boom in Western Australia in the late 1960s, and tells of an outback pub owner who stakes a claim and finds herself an overnight millionaire.-External links:*...

 was filmed there in 1971, using the town's remaining hotel, the Broad Arrow Tavern. The Tavern remains open for travellers today and is noted for having almost every wall covered with handwritten notes from past visitors. In recent years the area has had renewed life with mining companies re-establishing operations, like the Paddington Gold Mine

Paddington Gold Mine

The Paddington Gold Mine is a gold mine located near Broad Arrow, 30 km north of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.It is operated by Norton Gold Fields Limited, having acquired the mine from Barrick Gold on 25 August 2007 for A$45 million....

.