The earliest human settlers in the area are thought to be the Wiljakali Aborigines, although this was probably only intermittent due to lack of permanent water sources.  Their traditional lands centred on the towns of Broken Hill and Silverton and surrounding country

As in much of Australia, a combination of disease and aggression by white settlers drove them from their lands. Their language is considered to be largely extinct from the 1930s.

In the 1980s, the people formed the Wilyakali Aboriginal Corporation. This corporation today runs Poolamacca Station and has also gone on to negotiate mining deals, and Native Title Land Claims. The Wilyakali, are also joint managers of the Mutawintji National Park which is the first national park handed back to the traditional owners in NSW.