Menindee - Menindee visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Menindee' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from New South Wales.

Arriving at Menindee town in New South Wales is like finding an oasis in the desert. Surrounded by flat, arid, marginal land so dry you may wonder if it ever rains, it is surprising to come across vast freshwater lakes and Kinchega National Park. Around the town are citrus orchards and vegetable farming, yet nearby the desert landscape is so dry it barely supports grazing in patches.

Critically, Menindee has around 20 lakes which are fed by the Darling River and they in turn supply freshwater to vast areas around southern Australia. A water storage and irrigation system was instigated to regulate the flow. The lakes could swell to flooding during the rains and yet still disappear to wind-blown dust-bowls during drought. A water management system was conceived during around 189, but not completed until nearly 1960 thus giving a water storage capacity roughly 3.5 times the capacity of Sydney Harbour! It also boasts some of the best inland fishing in NSW. However, as these lakes are freshwater supply, another artificial lake was created at Copi Hollow to be used for water sports, swimming, speed boats, sailing etc and it has good visitor facilities and camping.

First explored by European surveyor and explorer Major Thomas Mitchell in 1835, he was succeeded by Charles Sturt in 1844 and then famously, the town became the advance base for the 1860 Burke and Wills expedition. As such, it is historically important and a frequent stop on discovery tours of Australia and for visitors on heritage trails around early colonisation sites.

By road: Menindee is 1106 km north-west of Sydney on the Great Western, Mitchell and Barrier Highways. 110 kilometres south-east of Broken Hill.

By rail: Once-weekly trains to Sydney / Broken Hill. The Indian Pacific train from Perth to Sydney stops twice weekly upon request.