Railways of Australia

The township was established in the late 1880's during construction of the Great Southern Railway from Beverley to Albany. Prior to this there had been a settlement a few kilometers away at Eticup, a busy little village that possessed two stores, a hotel, a church and eight blacksmiths. Eticup was bypassed by the railway, resulting in that settlement's decline and a gradual move to Broomehill, which was declared a town in 1897. From 1893, travellers making their way to the goldfields would journey by train from Albany to Broomehill and then set off on foot or by wagon on the grueling Holland's Track to Coolgardie. John Holland and four partners cut the Track in an effort to reach the gold fields in record time and it was used by many hopeful prospectors. In 1956 a memorial was erected to mark the beginning of the Track.