Once a thriving river port, WENTWORTH is now a sleepy old town overshadowed by nearby Mildura, 31km back along the Sturt Highway and across the Murray River in Victoria. Located at the junction of the Murray and the Darling, the “two rivers” town was for seventy years the centre of river trade between New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The extension of the railway at the turn of the century bypassed Wentworth, however, and at the same time killed off much of the river trade.
Nowadays the town makes a pleasant stopover en route to or from Broken Hill, 261km north on the sealed Silver City Highway, or a brief excursion from Mildura (in Victoria). Enquire at the tourist information centre, Shop 4, Wentworth Place, Adams Street (daily 9am–5pm; tel 03/5027 3624), about river cruises on the MV Loyalty, built about 1914 (or direct on tel 03/5027 3330).
You could visit the Wentworth Gaol on Beverly Street (daily 10am–5pm; $5), built of handmade bricks in 1879, but the interpretive displays consist of bits of curling cardboard and dejected dummies, making it hardly worth the entrance fee. Opposite, Pioneer World (daily 10am–5pm; $4) is a folk museum exhibiting items related to Aboriginal and European history of the area, and very tacky models of large animals. You can also take a tour through citrus groves at Orange World in Mourquong, back towards Mildura (9am–4pm; closed Sat; guided tractor tours 10.30am & 2.30pm; 1hr; $6).
The Aboriginal land council in Wentworth organizes visits to significant Aboriginal sites around Lake Victoria to the west, and Mungo National Park among the dry salt lakes to the northeast. The tours are run by Harry Nanya Tours at Shop 10, Wentworth Place, Sandych Street (tel 03/5027 2076), and are accompanied by accredited Barkindji guides. Ancient Aboriginal graves were recently discovered at Lake Victoria – the Barkindji had always spoken of their existence.
In April 1994, the partial draining of the eleven-square-kilometre lake revealed skeletons buried side by side and in deep layers; some of the estimated ten thousand graves date back six thousand years, in what is believed to be Australia’s largest pre-industrial burial site – surpassing any such finds in Europe, Asia or North and South America. The site also challenges the premise that Aboriginal lifestyles were solely nomadic, suggesting that here at least they lived in semi-permanent dwellings around the lake.
Among the places to stay in Wentworth, the luxury apartments at the Red Gum Lagoon, 210 Adams St, are wonderful, offering free use of canoes and rowboats on the lagoon itself. Another good waterfront choice is the Willow Bend Caravan Park on Darling Street, right near the shops but also at the confluence of the Darling and Murray rivers, where there are plenty of trees – watch out for ferocious possums, though. You can get out on the water by renting a houseboat from Twin Rivers Houseboats at 1 William St.