Oct 2012, Broken Hill, NSW The rugged outback mining town of Broken Hill is a town of contrasts. It is a haven for art and artists and beauty can be seen everywhere. From the haunting desert sunsets to the over the top art of the Palace Hotel. Each grand building is adorned with lace. Continue reading Mining and old lace
If there is one place in Australia that must be seen to be believed it is Broken Hill. A mining town in the desert with an arts culture at its heart. Oct 2012, Broken Hill, NSW We soon learn that … Continue reading Broken Hill
Oct 2012, Approaching Broken Hill, NSW The road signs tell us we are now on Central Standard Time (South Australian Time even though we’re in NSW) and our clever little iPhones suddenly drop back a half hour. We pull into … Continue reading It’s Just a Matter of Time
It is said that the old Cornish miners of Broken Hill used to sleep sitting up, because their lungs were too damaged by lead and dust to allow them to sleep horizontally. They had traipsed up from South Australia, with their worldly goods in their wheelbarrows, after the copper ran out at Burra in the early 1880’s. Can you imagine how it must have felt pushing a wheelbarrow 350kms across semi arid land? Continue reading The Cornish Miners
White Rocks Reserve in Broken Hill, NSW is the site of the only bloodshed on Australian soil in World War One. This happened when two ‘Turks’ (actually Pakistanis, but Turkish sympathisers), one an ice cream vendor the other a butcher, attacked the Silverton train as it passed, the train was full of miners heading to Silverton for a picnic. Four locals and the ‘Turks’ were killed in the resulting skirmish. A replica ice cream cart is on display at White Rocks Reserve. Continue reading World War One Skirmish at Home
The famous Bell’s Milk Bar in Patton Street, Broken Hill, NSW has been on the same site since the early 1900’s and hasn’t been altered since the 1950’s. They make their own cordials so they certainly have quality control over … Continue reading Bell’s Milk Bar
We slip out of Broken Hill to the Living Desert Park, which is 12kms away, to see the sculpture park at sunset. The sculptures are made from Wilcannia sandstone and almost glow in the light of the setting sun. The views of both the desert and back towards Broken Hill are sublime and it is wonderful to see the changing colours of the desert as the sun sets across the landscape. People have brought wine and there is a hush. They are sitting on rocky outcrops quietly toasting the end of the day and the sheer majesty of it all. Continue reading The Living Desert Sculpture Park
The Palace Hotel in Broken Hill, NSW has a unique decor. Every inch of wall space is devoted to murals and the furnishings are from the 1950’s. In the Side Bar there’s a huge collection of aluminium soda syphons lining the window ledges and a great array of mismatched furniture from the same era. The foyer has three storeys of murals running up the walls across the ceilings and under the stairs. Even the hallways have murals. On top of that, it is a really nice pub to have a drink in. Oh and it starred in the making of … Continue reading Palace Hotel, Broken Hill
At first glance the houses, or ‘tinnies’ as they are known, of Broken Hill, NSW appear to be small, tired, unkempt corrugated iron shacks. But on closer inspection no two are the same, most are very neat, although few have gardens as we coastal dwellers know them. There is a lack of water in this town, so those who want a garden, have invested in succulents and oleanders. There must be a termite problem because the power poles are concrete and iron like those in Adelaide. This would explain the use of corrugated iron for the houses. Some houses have … Continue reading Broken Hill ‘Tinnies’
