WELCOME TO NHILL INCLUDING KIATA AND GLENLEE

Midway between Melbourne and Adelaide, Nhill, an Aboriginal word meaning ‘early morning mist rising over water’, is a thriving country town offering a picturesque place to stop, explore and recharge. Surrounded by natural wonderlands in the Big & Little Desert National Parks, the central part of Nhill offers a wide range of shopping facilities, as well as parks and gardens within the median strip. Enjoy a game of golf on the greens, utilize the numerous sporting facilities or just sit back and relax in one of many beautiful cafes and restaurants around town.

EXPLORE

Nhill possesses a pleasant and attractive main street with an enormous median strip within which is Goldsworthy Park, a delightful spot with seats and well-maintained lawns, trees and bushes, electric barbecues, a playground and a memorial statue to the Clydesdale which did so much of the leg-work in rendering the Wimmera fit for agriculture. It is also home to the Hindmarsh Visitor Information Centre.

Nhill Lake, adjacent to the town, was originally part of Nhill Swamp. When full there is boating, a boardwalk and plenty of bird life.

Hermans Hill Tourist Walk, located to the north-east of town between Jeparit and Rainbow, is where you can take a walk though the Mallee scrub to a hill overlooking the surrounding district. Here you will find a bird-hide and an information bay.

Nhill is also the gateway to the Big Desert Wilderness Park to the North West, Wyperfeld to the North East and the Little Desert to the South. For more information, see Big Desert Wilderness Park, Wyperfeld National Park and Little Desert National Park.

DAY TRIP

21km north east of Nhill is the Glenlee Flora and Fauna Reserve.

Located 15kms south-east of Nhill on the Western Highway is Kiata, home to Inverness Motors, a museum of vintage and collectables cars.

EXPERIENCE

Located in McPherson St, the Historical Museum has displays relating to local history. It is open Thursday mornings, every second Sunday and by appointment.

The John Shaw Neilson National Memorial Cottage can be located by proceeding down the main street past the Wesley Hall and the Nhill Uniting Church to Shaw Neilson Park on the western side of town. The cottage comes from Penola in South Australia where Neilson was born in 1872. It contains documents connected to the life of the lyric poet. Owing to drought he moved with his family from Minimay to a spot just west of Nhill in 1889. He and his father worked at various jobs in the area and both published their poetry in local papers. Neilson left town in 1895. Adjacent to the cottage is an old wheat wagon, formerly common throughout the area. A couple of kilometers out of Nhill, on the way to Kaniva, there is a roadside memorial indicating where the original Neilson cottage stood.

The Post Office, built in 1888, is one of the few remaining buildings to have survived a tornado that ripped through the town in 1897. The two-story brick building is a must see for anyone interested in History and Architecture.