A 12-year-old boy has been stopped by police after he attempted to drive across Australia on his own, getting almost a third of the way there.

The boy was pulled over at Broken Hill in far western NSW on Saturday morning, about 1300 kilometres into his journey.

The boy was stopped by Highway Patrol on Saturday, police said. Credit:Brendan Esposito

He had seemingly driven across the entire state of New South Wales, after setting off from Kendall near Port Macquarie on the east coast.

In a statement on Sunday, a NSW Police spokesperson said the boy was on his way to Perth.