Broome

Broome supplied the majority of the world's mother-of-pearl shell in the early 20th century, a boom industry built on the shells of pearl oysters harvested by divers working in genuinely dangerous conditions well before reliable decompression science existed. That industry drew a remarkably multicultural workforce, Japanese, Malay, Chinese, and Aboriginal divers working alongside European boat owners, creating a demographic mix unlike almost anywhere else in early 20th-century Australia.

The human cost of that industry remains visible at Broome's Japanese Cemetery, which holds hundreds of graves, many belonging to divers who died from decompression sickness, known then as "the bends," a risk poorly understood at the time and made worse by boat owners pushing divers to work longer at increasing depths as accessible shallow-water shells grew scarce. The cemetery stands today as a quiet, direct record of the human toll behind Broome's boom years.

Cable Beach, a 22-kilometer stretch of white sand along Broome's coast, takes its name from the undersea telegraph cable that once ran from here to Java, another thread connecting the town to global communication infrastructure of the era. Today it's better known for sunset camel rides along the sand, a genuinely popular and photogenic activity that's become one of Broome's signature tourist experiences.

The Staircase to the Moon, a natural optical phenomenon occurring when a full moon rises over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay during extremely low tide, creates the visual effect of a staircase of light stretching across the flats toward the horizon. It's visible only a few nights each month between March and October, when the specific combination of full moon and low tide aligns, and locals and visitors alike plan evenings specifically around catching it.

Broome's pearling industry still continues today in a modernized, cultured-pearl form, and farm tours let visitors see the current process alongside displays explaining the earlier, far more dangerous era of wild shell diving that first put the town on the map.