The Kimberley townsite of Halls Creek is located 2855 kilometres northeast of Perth on the Great Northern Highway. It was named after Charles Hall who, with John Slattery, prospected the vicinity in 1885 and found the alluvial and reef gold that led to the 1886 gold rush on the Kimberley Goldfield. Hall's name was first applied to the creek on which he found gold before being used for the townsite name. The gold rush led to around 6,000 men prospecting in the vicinity in 1886.

Townsite lots were laid out in 1887, but the townsite was not gazetted until 1894. It was first gazetted as Hall's Creek, but the apostrophe was officially removed in 1944. Because of frequent floods a new townsite of Halls Creek, situated about 12km westwards, was gazetted in 1949. The old townsite is now a popular tourist destination.