A Fair Way to Go for Golf

For a seemingly sleepy hamlet—nestled in mulga scrub on an uncharacteristic hill above the Nullarbor, close to the South Australian border—Eucla has a work ethic that could put many city folk to shame. As well as an industrious roadhouse, police station, meteorological office and quarantine center, the 50-resident village is a hub for shark fishing and starling shooting (the bird is considered a pest in Western Australia). "We're either sleeping or working," says local mechanic Rodney Fowler, 60, proudly wearing his eucla spirit of the desert windcheater.

Which makes the town's main social event, the annual Eucla Golf...