The Murrumbidgee River town of Balranald lies just on the NSW side of the border in wool, beef, wheat, fruit and timber country, 440km north-west of Melbourne.
Visitors can trace the developed settlement in these parts in the Historical Museum and Heritage Park and in the old police station.
Regional white heritage, however, pales into insignificance when compared with the 40,000 years of Aboriginal history locked into Mungo National Park 150km to the north-west, with its Aboriginal heritage precinct, the Walls of China and Willandra Lakes.
The local Balranald weir offers fishing and barbeque picnic facilities. Eight kilometres south-east along the Sturt Highway, Yanga Lake provides good fishing and water sports opportunities.
Trivia buffs will be fascinated to learn that one of the first telephones in Australia connected nearby Yanga homestead with the men's bunkhouse. The phone was installed by a nephew of Alexander Graham Bell.
The region also boasts a fine example of Aboriginal technology - a ring tree whose branches were tied together many years ago to form a circle. The Aborigines used the ring tree technique to mark a tribal boundary. A sign points to the location of the local ring tree about halfway along the road linking Balranald and Koraleigh.
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