17/09/2026
📍Broome (Rubibi), Western Australia
On the Kimberley coast in far northwest Western Australia, Broome is a town of around 14,000 people sitting on Roebuck Bay, about 2,200 kilometres from Perth and 1,900 from Darwin.
This is Yawuru Country. The Yawuru people have lived on this coast for tens of thousands of years, and their language, seasonal calendar and stewardship of the coast are central to Broome today.
The town grew out of the pearling industry from the 1880s. By the early 1900s, Broome was producing around 80% of the world’s mother-of-pearl. Pearl luggers worked the coast in the hundreds, crewed by Japanese, Malay, Chinese, Filipino and Yawuru divers whose descendants still shape the town’s food, streets and community. Cable Beach itself is named after the undersea telegraph cable that connected Broome to Java in 1889.
Beyond Cable Beach and its 22 kilometres of white sand, Broome is where 130-million-year-old dinosaur footprints emerge at Gantheaume Point at extreme low tide, and where the “Staircase to the Moon” appears on nights around the full moon between March and October. As the moon rises, its reflection breaks across Roebuck Bay’s exposed mudflats in bands that look like a staircase climbing to the sky.
The dry season (May to October) is the sensible time to visit. Days sit around 30°C, the sea is warm, and the whole Kimberley opens up for exploration.
💬 Have you seen Broome’s dinosaur footprints? Tell us in the comments.
