Kintore mine head, Broken Hill

Broken Hill Post Office

Scrubland east of Broken Hill

The big seat at the Line of Lode mine lookout

Living Desert sculpture park

Pro Hart's Rolls Royce

Day Dream Mine smelter ruins near Silverton

A car used in the filming of Mad Max II parked outside the Silverton Hotel

Broken Hill, in outback New South Wales near the South Australian border, is one of Australia's most unlikely tourist meccas. It's still very much a dusty working town, stuck out in the middle of nowhere on the site of the richest deposits of silver, lead and zinc the world has ever seen. The mines, though still worked, have seen better days, and the town's buildings and streets are reminiscent of the Old West in a John Wayne movie, yet the place is buzzing.

Where is it?: New South Wales: Central & Far West. Broken Hill is on the Barrier Highway and Indian Pacific Railway line. It is 6 hours drive (516 km) from Adelaide, 14 hours drive (1,145 km) from Sydney and 10 hours drive (839 km) from Melbourne.

Lookouts: a visitor's centre and lookout are situated on top of the original Line of Lode mine in the middle of town.

Events: St Patrick's Race Day is one of the biggest annual social events in NSW. In eccentric country style, this event is celebrated a week after the rest of the world celebrates St Patrick's Day. Silver City Show is held every September.

Things to see and do:

Broken Hill is an intact heritage city, without being impacted upon by later modem expansion of the surrounding city. It retains significant civic buildings, substantial private retail and commercial buildings, and surrounding residential areas all of which are largely intact, without the typical demolition and intrusion of inappropriate buildings common in other regional cities.

Over the past 50 years, many artists are drawn to the area because of the clear light and expansive vistas. There are more than 30 art galleries in the area, showcasing public collections and the work of individual artists.
The best known of Broken Hill’s artists, Pro Hart, also founded a private collection that features some of his best known works. It includes some of the world’s most distinguished artists – Picasso, Dali, Rodin and Monet – and also highlights the works of renowned Australian artists, including Dobell, Nolan and Boyd. The gallery also features the Rolls Royce that he painted in his unique style.

The Living Desert Flora and Fauna Sanctuary, 6 km from town, is where the Broken Hill Sculptures sit on top of hills in the desert reserve. The topography, scenery and views surrounding the unique Living Desert sculpture park are breathtaking and are can be experience by taking the numerous walking trails.

Surrounding area:

Silver City, as it is referred to by its citizens, is a short (by outback standards) drive to the fascinating mining ghost town of Silverton. Here you can visit a number of galleries displaying the works of local artists, or experience a sunset camel safari on the outskirts of town. On the way to Silverton is the Day Dream Mine and town ruins. Tours of the underground mine operate daily. More >>

Beyond Silverton are the Mundi Mindi Plains. Used as a backdrop for scenes in movies like Mad Max, the plains are so vast and flat you can actually see the curviature of the earth from the lookout.

Further out, you can take a camel trek, experience life on an outback cattle station, visit pristine Aboriginal cave and rock artn or make the 4WD trek to Cameron's Corner, the point where the boundary lines of the states of Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales meet. This general area, which includes Strzelecki Desert in the Lake Eyre Basin was first explored by Captain Charles Sturt, who in 1844 went in search of a supposed inland sea in the center of Australia.
The sole permanent resident of this area is said to be Bill Mitchell, who operates the Cameron Corner Store and a golf course near there. Apparently, it "is a Queensland business with a New South Wales postal code and a South Australian telephone number." The noted Dingo Fence passes through Cameron's Corner along the New South Wales border.

Mutawintji National Park (130 km north-east) is dominated by the rugged, fiery red Bynguano Ranges, Mutawintji National Park is characterised by beautiful gorges lined with majestic river red gums occasionally punctuated by dark, mysterious rockpools. For thousands of years Mutawintji was one of the most important spiritual meeting places in Australia. Today visitors can learn about this site and visit its many Aboriginal rock carvings on a tour with an Aboriginal guide. More >>

Kinchega National Park: extends south from Menindee township (113 km south east) and incorporates the Menindee Lakes. The lakes and rivers within the national park are popular for water sports, Copi Hollow, an artifically constructed lake developed for speedboats, sailing, swimming and water-skiing. It is also one of the finest freshwater fishing spots in NSW. Murray Cod, Golden Perch, Silver Perch, European Carp, Crayfish and Catfish are in abundant supply. The dry sand-dunes around the lakes have given up some of the most prolific and consistently early remnants of human existence anywhere in the world - fossils and marked stones of the Barkindji people and their ancestors dating back 26,000 years. More >>

About Broken Hill

Broken Hill was born through hardship, toil and looking after your mates in places like Broken Hill that the true Aussie spirit was born. And that spirit is alive and well today; the people are warm and friendly and it's no trouble to stop and have a drink with you, or point you in the direction of where you are seeking to go. In Broken Hill, that could be anywhere from the galleries of the many artists who call the place home, to the many places of interest in the vast outback that surrounds the town.
The backdrop of the Line of Lode (the locality's vast ore seam), provides an usual physical setting for the city, and an ever present reminder of its important mining legacy.

Climate: Broken Hill has a desert climate. Winter in Broken Hill can be very cold and dry, while summers are highly variable — mostly hot and dry. The average maximum during the summer months (November to March) is about 32 °C (90 °F) with an average of 25% humidity, although occasional rainfall and cooler weather occur.

History: Silver was first discovered at Broken Hill in 1883 by Charles Rasp, a boundary rider from Mt. Gipps pastoral station. The Line of Lode is the world's largest known lead-silver-zinc mineral deposit. By 1885, Broken Hill had become firmly established as a principal mining field and a syndicate of seven (including Rasp) set up the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (known today as BHP Billiton) to raise capital to further exploit deposits. BHP Billiton was once one of Australia's biggest companies and has played an important role in shaping Australia's mining, industrial and immigration policy. Other major world mining companies that have had their beginnings in Broken Hill include Rio Tinto, North Broken Hill Ltd., South Broken Hill Ltd and Pasminco Ltd.
Between 1885 and 1890, high grade and easy to mine and smelt ore was extracted from Broken Hill, mostly by BHP. However, in the 1890s, the mines struggled due to declining metal prices, lower ore grades and increasing sulphide problems. With increasingly poor working and living conditions, trade union activity began in Broken Hill as early as 1889 and the first strike took place in 1892. With a long history of strikes, the 1919 strike was the longest, lasting 18 months and bringing about a thirty-five hour week and improved health and safety conditions.
The population of Broken Hill peaked at 35,000 in 1915 and again in 1952 when there was a population of 33,000, however since that time the population has been steadily declining as the mines have closed. The city is turning to sustainable cultural tourism as an important area of growth with heritage as a major selling point.
Today the city continues to be a popular place for tourists, who are able to enrich themselves with the unique architectural styles and the rich mining history. The city has also becoming increasingly popular for artists and film makers. The unique combination of landscape and infrastructure in Broken Hill has become the backdrop for over 50 feature films and television productions including Mission Impossible II, Mad Max II and the Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Broken Hill is where safe working practices and workers legislation was first developed for miners. Trade union activity began as early as 1889 over health, safety and wages, culminating into an 18 month long strike in 1919 that brought about an eight hour day, the first of its kind in the world. The thirty-five hour week and improved health and safety conditions were also an outcome of these strikes.
The city itself is a unique mixture of architectural styles. Many of the prominent city buildings were constructed between 1888 and 1892 by prominent architects from Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. These buildings are juxtaposed with typical miners residences that are scattered across the city and as such, have significant potential to contribute to the understanding and interpretation of mining communities.
Broken Hill is also of national historic significance as it is the scene of the only enemy attack on Australian soil - just four months before the Anzacs fought in Gallipoli in 1915. Two Turkish men were responsible for the shootings, which killed four people and injured seven others.

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