"The Silver City - Heart of the Aussie... " a Broken Hill Travel Page by M0B1US

Broken Hill is a major Australian city quite literally in the middle of nowhere, but after several days of tracking across a bone dry and scorched semi desert punctuated by the likes of White Cliffs and Wilcannia (see my pages) - this was civilisation indeed!

This famous mining town and Outback centre is located on the Barrier Range in the far northwest of NSW, just 48 km east of the South Australian border. 1160 km west of Sydney via the Great Western, Mitchell and Barrier Highways with a a population of over 20,000.

Broken Hill is and always will be inextricably associated with the mining of silver, lead and zinc - in 1885 a rich vein of silver was hit turning out to be one of the world's largest known silver-lead-zinc lodes (the ore body was a continuous arch 7 km long and 220 m wide!)

The company created to mine this huge lode was called the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP), which is now called BHP Billiton - Australia's largest company!

Broken Hill was a virtual company city and now many of the streets are named after metals, minerals and compounds, such as Wolfram, Cobalt, Bromide and Argent Streets for example...

In 1940 BHP ceased working here and Pasminco is the only mining company still operating here. With only about 700 men being employed using modern technology, with the prospect of more job losses there is genuine concern as to the future of Broken Hill.

Perhaps it is because of this that Broken Hill has become an important centre of the arts with a movement called 'Brushmen of the Bush'. This is an eclectic group consisting of Pro Hart, Eric Minchin, Hugh Schulz, John W. Pickup and Jack Absalom who are all self-taught and noted for their distinctly Australian subject matter through the inspiration they draw from the town and its surrounds.

There are around thirty galleries in town featuring local, national and international works of which a complete list can be found at the visitor's centre - this means Broken Hill has the highest concentration of galleries per capita than anywhere else in Australia! The City Art Gallery (1904)is the second oldest art gallery in Australia after the State Gallery of NSW in Sydney. It began when George McCulloch donated some paintings and now features traditional, modern and Aboriginal works including the 'Silver Tree' commissioned by Charles Rasp, founder of Broken Hill.

Another claim to fame is 'The Big Picture', the world's largest painting on canvas by Peter Andrew Anderson - or Ando to his mates, which is located at the Silver City Mint and Art Centre and is 100-metres long by 12-metres high.

Broken Hill is also home to Australia's oldest mosque, erected in 1891 by a small group of Muslim camel drivers from Afghanistan.

We found Broken Hill to be a wonderful place to spend a few days and recharge our batteries after driving across the outback for three days, it has a friendly and laid back pace of life and most of the artists are more than happy to spend some time chatting with you.

No Aussie experience would be complete without a trip to Broken Hill!

Check out Cands and iandsmith's excellent tips for further info on Broken Hill...

There is plenty to see and do in this fascinating city, from exploring its history or natural features, to visiting one of the many great Art Galleries in town...

Here are a few suggestions:

Mario's Palace: As seen in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, this is a large pub and hotel with an amazing interior...

Sculpture Symposium: Situated on a hill about 11kms north of town past the Pro Hart Gallery are a collection of standstone sculptures, best viewed around sunset...

Pro Hart Gallery: Probably Broken Hill's most famous artist, he has a mansion-like gallery as well as installations throughout the town.

Delprats Underground Mine Tour: Get down and dirty 400ft underground and find out why Broken Hill thrives here in the Outback.

Royal Flying Doctors Service: This is the headquarters and museum of a truly extraordinary medical service...

Day trip to Silverton: Just a pleasant half hour's drive to the north is a ghost town packed with history and remnants of a glorious past (Check out my Silverton page for details)...

Why not also take time to wander Broken Hill's wide boulevardes and admire classic Australian architecture. Stop off at one of the many tea rooms or cafes that line Argent St.

Internet is free at the library, though you may have to wait for a long time on Sundays as it's about the only place in town that's open for the web! Another place on Argent St was in the process of opening and looked as though it will be a cool place to hang out...

Of course the main way to get around is by car - really there is no other way as public transport is practically non existent! Besides, how else can you appreciate the sheer enormity of this country than by putting in the gruelling hours and thousands of kms at the wheel - that itself is part of the Outback experience!

There are public bus services that get you out here, as well as tour buses like the 'OZ Experience', so that is one way to travel if you don't want to use your own transport...

Broken Hill is a station on the route of Australia's most famous train journey - the epic 3-night, 4,352km Indian Pacific 'coast to coast' from Sydney to Perth. Whilst we were there the train people were taking an optional sightseeing tour during one of the train's scheduled stops, so it is possible to get a decent dose of Broken Hill this way...

Broken Hill also has an airport that you can fly into using Outback NSW's main regional carrier, Hazelton Airlines. You can fly direct from Sydney for a fraction of the time it would take overland...

Broken Hill is #3 out of my four 'NSW Outback' pages. If you are thinking of visiting Broken Hill, you should read my Silverton page as both places are a 20 minute drive from each other!

To gain a greater understanding of the region, you should read my other Outback pages...

#1: Wilcannia - A disturbing insight into the plight of Australia's Aborigines.

#2: White Cliffs - The nearest thing Australia has to a Martian Colony.

#4: Silverton - Mad Max meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert in this ghost town.