broken hill

It is a funny old place Broken Hill. In the middle of the little chunk of NSW outback, it is a steeply sloping mining town with attractive street names like Bromide St, Kaolin St, Cobalt St. Uranium and Plutonium Sts ( who would want an address like that) so it feels like driving around a real-time life-sized periodic table.

The first European to discover the region, 28 years after the first crossing of the Blue Mountains was Sir Thomas Mitchell. Charles Sturt also noted the presence of a 'broken hill' as he passed through in 1844 on his way to discover the 'inland sea' ( many expeditions set off towards the middle of the continent hell bent on finding the mythical inland sea, many armed with small boats.It is a shame that they were a few million years too late to actually find water and many perished in the desert).

In 1883 Charles went prospecting for tin and discovered silver and lead and zinc.This ore body became the largest and richest of its kind in the world, yielding minerals worth over $1.5 billion.
The town grew rapidly and within 8 years had a population of over 20,000 including many shanty towns housing Afghan cameleers ( Ghantowns).

In 1915 Broken Hill was the scene of the only enemy attack on Australian soil. Four months before the Anzacs fought the Turks at Gallipoli two locals of Indian/Afghan origin, and Turkish sympathisers, hid in an ice-cream cart and opened fire on a railway carriage full of picnickers, killing 3 and wounding 6 more before being gunned down themselves. This led to the internment of all 'enemy aliens' in town.

The town retains many unspoilt buildings and you can easily picture the bullock carts and trains of camels passing through.

The sculpture park outside town is built on a hill offering great views over the desert terrain.

From trek phase 4

From trek phase 4

From trek phase 4

Not sure that all the natives are friendly....

From trek phase 4

From trek phase 4