Broome Chinatown & Pearling Heritage Walk
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Broome Chinatown & Pearling Heritage Walk

Walk Broome's Chinatown — the pearl trading centre of Australia's most multicultural outback town, where Japanese, Chinese, Malay, and Aboriginal cultures merged in the pearling industry that made Broome the pearl capital of the world.

  1. 1

    Dampier Terrace Chinatown

    Dampier Terrace is the spine of Broome's Chinatown — the original trading street where Chinese merchants supplied the pearling luggers has retained its corrugated iron shop fronts and tropical verandahs in a streetscape unique in Australia.

  2. 2

    Sun Pictures Outdoor Cinema

    Sun Pictures on Carnarvon Street is the world's oldest operating outdoor picture garden (1916) — the canvas deckchairs, the corrugated iron walls open to the night sky, and the resident cats wandering between rows make this one of Australia's most characterful cinemas.

  3. 3

    Pearl Luggers Museum

    The Pearl Luggers museum on Dampier Terrace preserves two historic pearling luggers — the restored boats and the museum's account of the Japanese, Malay, and Aboriginal divers who risked their lives for pearl shell document a brutal and culturally complex industry.

  4. 4

    Broome Historical Museum

    The Broome Historical Museum in the former customs building tells the story of the pearling industry from the 1880s — the collection of pearl shell, diving equipment, and photographs of the multicultural pearling workforce reflects Broome's unique social history.

  5. 5

    Japanese Cemetery

    The Japanese Cemetery on Port Drive contains over 900 graves of Japanese pearl divers who died in Broome between 1896 and 1914 — the highest death rate from decompression sickness in the world made this the largest Japanese cemetery outside Japan.

  6. 6

    Broome Town Beach

    Broome Town Beach on Roebuck Bay is the town's original swimming beach — the mangroves and mudflats of Roebuck Bay at low tide are a feeding ground for 1.4 million wading birds, the most significant shorebird staging area in Australia.

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