Miriam Blaker heads to Brewarrina in northern New South Wales to explore this tiny town steeped in history, culture and Dreamtime stories.
Most travellers have heard of the Back O’ Bourke and perhaps fossicked in the iconic opal fields of Lightning Ridge, however between the two lies an unassuming, remote little town with one of the most historically significant locations in Australia.
Brewarrina, or Bre as the locals call it, sits quietly in the scrubs of northern NSW. While travellers often bypass this small town, we decided to hang around for a few days while heading northwards into Queensland.
We had arrived from Nyngan after a night at the fabulous Nyngan Weir free camp, with pelicans galore on the Bogan River. It’s about 208km to Brewarrina, along the Mitchell Highway and Arthur Hall VC Way, fully sealed roads often devoid of traffic, except for the occasional group of wayward emus and goats. From the southern way to Brewarrina, you’ll pass the historic town of Gongolgon on the Bogan River, once a Cobb & Co stop and now a handy picnic spot.
Entering Brewarrina, the big fish and pelicans on the welcome sign gives a clue to unaware travellers as to the town’s cultural history and main attraction. Our first port of call was the Brewarrina Visitor Information and Exhibition Centre on Bathurst Street. Inside, we received a friendly welcome from the staff, while outside hordes of construction workers were busy transforming the lawns and open area into an ice-skating rink for the then-upcoming Brewarrina Blizzard. We’d arrived just before the NSW winter school holidays and this year’s unique Blizzard festival (held in early July) was shaping up to be a big drawcard, the third festival in the town’s history.
Fish and pelicans are unofficial mascots of Brewarrina
The outback town transformed into a winter wonderland during the Brewarrina Blizzard festival
There are plenty of parking spots for big rigs. Around the back of the information centre is the dump point, toilets and potable water. Across the road is the Muddy Waters Cafe and not far away is the Brewarrina RSL Club. There are two small supermarkets, fuel, a bank, butcher, pharmacy and a pub with sporadic trading hours. Look for the flags out front to see if they’re open. You’ll soon discover the main connection the town has is to the river which runs around the town and more specifically to the ancient Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps.
Colourful murals outside Muddy Waters Cafe
Aboriginal culture
The Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps, or Baiame's Ngunnhu, are nearly half a kilometre long system of stone ponds and walls in the Barwon River. Aboriginal tradition says that Baiame, the ancestral creator, designed them by throwing his net over the river. His two sons then built the traps. They are a complex network of river stones arranged to form holding ponds and channels that catch fish as they travel upstream. These fish traps reflect an ancient genius in the simplicity of their design, one which adapted to the seasons and changing water levels.
The Brewarrina fish traps have existed here for thousands of years. Archaeologists and scientists differ in their opinion of how old they are, from 5000 years to 50,000 years. However, they agree on one thing and that is that they’re likely the oldest human-made structures in the world.
Aboriginal artwork overlooking the fish traps
As we were to discover, what you see here is far more than simply rocks placed to catch fish in the river. They’re feats of ancient engineering, clever and unique ways to catch fish in an environmentally sound manner that provided food for Indigenous people for generations. Today it’s not unusual to see dozens of pelicans waiting patiently on the river stones.
You can see the traps yourself from the riverbank and there’s parking available for big rigs nearby. But the best way to truly appreciate the fish trips is on a guided tour that starts at the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum.
Bradley was our guide, an easy-going and knowledgeable local, passionate about sharing his culture. As he led us inside the earth-covered museum with its cave-like entrance he described the early days of fish trapping. Brewarrina, he said, “was a powerful meeting place, a place where eight different tribes speaking eight different languages met and grew up together, working, fishing, building, constructing, gathering, making a simple life rich.”
The Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum is a great way to experience the town
Bradley is a knowledgeable and passionate guide
Inside the museum there was a collection of authentic Indigenous artefacts, stones, shells, spears, clubs and other tools, all telling a story about both the past and the present. “Riverbanks are incredibly important to Indigenous culture around Brewarrina,” Bradley told us, bringing the past to life through his engaging and often humorous commentary. However, the tales weren’t all happy ones, as he gave us the good and the bad, a real taste of the history of the region including the sombre events of the Hospital Creek Massacre.
As the tour continued down to the river Bradley pointed out the ochre stone walls in the distance and the fish traps closer to us and I could almost picture scenes of days past. Though Aboriginals have been historically described as hunters and gatherers Bradley described them as much more than that. They were engineers and environmentalists, artists and builders, teachers, farmers and astronomers. Aboriginal people in the region still use, maintain and care for the fish traps. Just a few days before our visit a group of boys had caught a heap of fish with their bare hands.
Ochre walls along the river
His commentary during the tour was spellbinding … “Imagine, if you knew exactly how to land a particular fish with your bare hands. It’s simple when you know how. We don’t own the land; we belong to it. And we share it.”
The tour was a fabulous way to appreciate the knowledge that’s been passed down from the elders and through the generations. The coming together of eight different tribes in the area shows collectiveness, community and collaboration from many years ago and many more to come. Western society might learn from this.
Eight tribes come together at Brewarrina
Colonial history
Brewarrina officially became a town in 1863, and its following growth made it harder to maintain the fish traps. As the town grew, rocks were taken away from the fish traps for building foundations and to create a river passage for steamers and barges.
In 1889, the historic Barwon Bridge was built across the river — a lift-span bridge designed to allow paddle steamers to pass underneath. Brewarrina marked the furthest point upstream that paddle steamers could reach on the Darling River system, and today, the bridge remains one of only two lift-span bridges still standing in NSW.
The historic Barwon lift bridge
Sleeping in the river at the edge of town is the Wandering Jew, a once-busy iron paddle steamer with a dramatic past. Originally used to transport wool, the paddle steamer caught fire three separate times — in 1883, 1898, and finally in 1914, when it came to rest in Brewarrina for good. Her remains can be seen about 100m upstream of the fish traps when the river is at a very low level.
Brewarrina was also a base for the Cobb & Co stagecoaches, which carried mail and passengers across NSW’s goldfields and townships. Signs of this era still remain scattered around town today.
The Cobb & Co era is visible near the free campground on the Barwon River
The Brewarrina Weir, completed in the 1970s, further damaged the fish traps upstream. The weir changed the river’s flow, which led to silt covering parts of the traps. However, between 2006 and 2012 a new ‘fishway’ was built, different from the ancient fish traps, helping native fish swim upstream past the weir.
Just north of Brewarrina on the Goodooga Road is the site of the tragic Hospital Creek Massacre where up to 400 local Aboriginal people were killed by settlers in 1859. The Aboriginal Land Council has set up a stone monument at the historic site to honour those killed. Also, on the road to Goodooga, turning off into Old Mission Road then driving 9.5km before turning right is the State Heritage-listed Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission Site.
This site is off the main tourist trail and not signposted however it’s an important reminder of earlier days, from 1886 until 1966, when Aboriginal people from various different tribes were forcibly removed from their traditional homes and relocated to the mission. Today, only relics and plaques remain — poignant reminders of a sombre time in history.
Best places to camp in or near Brewarrina
There are a couple of free camping options in Brewarrina. If you want somewhere close to town the Barwon Bridge Boat Ramp Camping Area has free campsites with flushing toilets, picnic tables, a boat ramp and views of the historic Barwon Bridge nearby. It’s close to the highway but is convenient to town and the fish traps.
Our pick was Four Mile Camping Reserve, about 8km out of town. The road is sealed until you reach the turn off into the reserve when it becomes an easily accessed dirt road. If it’s been raining, the tracks can get gnarly and muddy, but otherwise they’re easily accessible for all size rigs. There are toilets, bins, picnic tables and a boat ramp and, if you continue further, plenty of shaded, secluded spots to set up high over the river. It’s a peaceful place to enjoy birdlife, amazing sunsets and to throw in a line.
For those who want to stay in town, Brewarrina Caravan and Camping Park and Beds on the Barwon both offer reasonable rates for those who want power and full facilities. Beds on the Barwon has sites right on the river with a great camp kitchen in a picturesque bush type setting.
There’s easy access to Four Mile Camping Reserve — just be careful if it’s rained recently
Peaceful night on the Barwon River
Community spirit lives on
Brewarrina continues its reputation as a meeting place. During our stay we met up with travelling friends Sam and Jodie at the local Muddy Waters Cafe. The cafe, with its colourful murals outside by renowned artist John Murray, has fabulous food and coffee and is undoubtedly a focal point for locals and travellers alike.
Before we left town, we couldn’t resist checking out the Brewarrina Blizzard action. It’s not every day an outback town is transformed into a winter wonderland complete with ice skating rink. Did I skate? Well, seeing as I’ve recently recovered from a broken ankle in Cooktown, Qld, last year, I gave it a miss and left it for the kids. It was impressive though.
This meeting place — and a symbol of cooperation and celebration — continues today. On the riverbank it’s all about the fish. On the skating rink it was the happy sounds of youngsters, families connecting and tourists dropping a few dollars into this friendly little community. Spend a night or two if you’re passing Bre.
Fishing in Bre
Not surprisingly, Brewarrina is known as the ‘fishing capital of the west’ and in June each year the Bre Big Fish competition attracts anglers from all across Australia, each hoping to catch that big one.
The Barwon River is teaming with a variety of fish including the Murray cod, yellowbelly and black bream so anytime is a good time to go fishing here. There are great spots along the Barwon River at Four Mile Camping Reserve, the Barwon Bridge Boat Ramp and areas around the fish traps.
The Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps are still used today
Plan your trip to Brewarrina
Find out more
Brewarrina Visitor Information and Exhibition Centre
Open 9am–5pm Monday to Friday; 10am–2pm Saturday, Sunday and public holidays
50 Bathurst Street, Brewarrina
P: 02 6830 5152
E: info@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au
Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Corner Darling and Bathurst Street, Brewarrina
P: 0457 869 088
E: admin@brecorp.com.au
Caravan parks
Brewarrina Caravan and Camping Park
27–31 Church Street, Brewarrina
P: 0427 392 100
E: info@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au
Burban Street, Brewarrina
P: 1300 765 086 / 0429 579 249
E: bedsonthebarwon@hotmail.com
Free camping
Tarrion Yarrawin Road, Brewarrina
P: 02 6830 5152
E: info@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au
Barwon Bridge and Boat Ramp Camping Area
Bridge Road, Brewarrina
P: 02 6830 5152
E: info@brewarrina.nsw.gov.au
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