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Broken Hill is an isolated mining city and Local Government Area (see City of Broken Hill) in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 21,000. It is located near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (#32) and the Silver City Highway, in the Barrier Range. It is 220 metres above sea level and has an average rainfall of 235 mm and summer temperatures that hit well over 40° C. The closest major city is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500 km to the southwest. Unlike the rest of New South Wales, Broken Hill (and the surrounding region) observes Australian Central Standard Time, UTC+9:30, a time zone it shares with South Australia and the Northern Territory.
| Broken Hill New South Wales | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Broken hill ___location map in New South Wales.PNG Location of Broken Hill in New South Wales (red) | |||||||||
| Population | 28,000 | ||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 2880 | ||||||||
| Elevation | 315 m (1,033 ft) | ||||||||
| LGA(s) | City of Broken Hill | ||||||||
| County | Yancowinna | ||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Murray-Darling | ||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Parkes | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Broken Hill has been called the 'Oasis of the West, 'Silver City' and the 'Capital of the Outback.' Although over 1100 km west of Sydney and surrounded by semi-desert the town still manages colourful park and garden displays to surprise the unsuspecting visitor.
Named after the broken hill on which silver ore was first discovered in 1883 by a boundary rider named Charles Rasp, Broken Hill is Australia's longest-lived mining city. The "broken hill" that gives its name to Broken Hill actually comprised a number of hills that appeared to have a break in them. The "Broken Hill" no longer exists, having been mined away. Broken Hill's massive orebody, formed about 1800 million years ago, has proved to be the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposit. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the orebody stood out as a jagged rocky ridge amongst undulating plain country on either side. This was known as the broken hill by early pastoralists. There has been a significant decline in the mining industry over recent years.
Geography
The desolate landscape surrounding Broken Hill is like driving towards a painting of soft mauve and sage hues. As the mineral resources in the Broken Hill area have dwindled, tourism has become increasingly important to the city's economy. The town is known as a centre for artists, and a number of galleries line the streets.
It is here that the Red Kangaroos travel two hundred kilometres in a night chasing a thunderstorm, and the unique Sturt's desert peas bloom in dark red soils.
Beyond the Darling River on the edge of the sundown is where they used to say you would find Broken Hill, as if there was nowhere further to travel in Australia. Perhaps it was the feeling of suddenly being confronted by such vast space, like an inland sea rolling into the sunset.
It is also known for its input into the formation of the labour movement in Australia, and has a rich trade union history. Broken Hill is a major base for both the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia and School of the Air and the town and its surrounding are frequently used by film-makers for shooting movies, television programs, video-clips and commercials. The clear blue skies and the magic light feature in movies including Mad Max 2 (The Road Warrior) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
South east of the town is the Kinchega National Park which encloses the Menindee and Cawndilla Lakes near the town of Menindee. Wilcannia is a small town situated on the Darling River, to the east of Broken Hill. It has many attractions of historical interest. The area is a fascinating place to visit with many contrasts.
As a result of Broken Hill's ___location on the New South Wales/South Australia border, far from any major New South Wales town and closer to Adelaide than Sydney, it has a strong psychological connection to South Australia. It uses Australian Central Standard Time, the same as South Australia; is in the (08) Western/central area code; its local television station, Central GTS/BKN, covers both Broken Hill and parts of South Australia; and its main football code is Australian rules football (unlike most of New South Wales, where the main football code is rugby league).
History
Broken Hill was founded in 1883 by a boundary rider called Charles Rasp who patrolled the Mt Gipps fences. In 1883 he discovered what he thought was tin but when the samples came back they were silver and lead instead of tin and the ore body they came from became the largest and richest of its kind in the world. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) was founded by the Syndicate of Seven to mine the ore body of Broken Hill in 1885. However by 1915 BHP realised its ore reserves were limited and began to diversify into steel production and on 28 February, 1939 mining at the BHP mines at Broken Hill had ceased.
However BHP was by no means the only miner at Broken Hill and mining continued at the southern and northern ends of the Line of Lode. Currently the southern and northern operations are run by Perilya Broken Hill who plan to open further mines along the Line of Lode.
In 2001 BHP merged with the Billiton company to form BHP Billiton.
The Battle of Broken Hill took place on New Year's Day 1915 when two Turks fired upon a trainload of picnickers in a self-described attack on the British Empire. They killed four and wounded six, before they were killed by a group of policemen and soldiers.[1]
Some of the most bitter industrial disputes have been fought in Broken Hill in 1892, 1909 and 1919. This led to the formation in 1923 by 18 trade unions of the Barrier Industrial Council which became one of the most influential organisations in the politics of the city.
On 10 January 2007, the Broken Hill City Council was dismissed by the New South Wales Minister for Local Government following a public inquiry.
Railways
The city's isolation was a big problem until the Adelaide narrow gauge railway link was finished in 1888. Since the New South Wales Government would not allow the South Australia Government to build a railway to cross the border, the last 30 km was built by a private company as a tramway, the Silverton Tramway. The Silverton Tramway is so named because it was originally intended to serve the mining town of Silverton. By the time the railway reached that town, however, it was already being eclipsed by the newer and bigger mine at Broken Hill. The main purpose of the railway was to transport concentrates and ores from the mines to the smelters and port facilities on the coast at Port Pirie. As a backload to Broken Hill it transported supplies, principally coal for boilers at the mines and timber for the timber sets used underground in mining. The Silverton Tramway was owned by Broken Hill mining interests.
The main sidings and locomotive servicing facilities were located in Railwaytown, a suburb of Broken Hill with sidings running to the south and north to serve the mines. The main passenger station was at Sulphide Street.
From the later 1890s, Broken Hill Council campaigned for a tramway to provide public transport around the town and to the mines. Eventually the NSW Government decided to build a tramway which was officially opened on 19 March 1902. It was run by steam trams transferred from Sydney by sea and then by rail across South Australia. It was a curious operation which after World War I suffered increasingly bad losses until the New South Wales Government closed the system in December 1926.
Another curiosity was the Tarrawingee Tramway which was a narrow gauge railway line which ran north from Broken Hill for about 40 miles to an area of limestone deposit which was quarried and transported to Broken Hill for use in the smelters at the mines.[2] The tramway opened in 1891 but closed in 1898 as the smelters moved to Port Pirie. In 1889 the Public Works Committee of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly recommended that the Government take over the line and it subsequently became a narrow gauge part of the New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) run under contract by Silverton Tramway.
It was an excursion train on the Tarrawingee Tramway that was fired on by two lone Turks in 1915 (see Battle of Broken Hill).
In 1919, a 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) standard gauge rail link from Broken Hill to Menindee was opened as the first stage in a planned direct route to Sydney. The terminus for the train was at Crystal Street station, some distance from the Silverton Tramway's Sulphide Street station. The railway mainly hauled water from the Menindee Lakes. The rolling stock all had to be transported by sea to South Australia and the railway was supervised by the superintendent of the Broken Hill Tramways.
In November 1927 the direct link to Sydney was established. In September 1937 the NSWGR placed into service the Silver City Comet, an air conditioned rail car which ran between Broken Hill and Parkes.
During World War II land transportation between South Australia and Eastern Australia became important with the threat posed by submarines and mines to coastal shipping. Extensive transhipment yards were constructed at Broken Hill in 1942 to allow transhipment of munitions. However in the event the threat was never fully realised.
With the purchase of the Sulphide Corporation by the Zinc Corporation in 1948 a modern zinc smelter was constructed at Cockle Creek, south of Newcastle. This started to take lead and zinc concentrates directly from Broken Hill in the 1960s via rail marking the first major use of the rail link to NSW. This was the well known W44 Concentrate Train.
In 1970 the 3 ft 6 in (1067 mm) gauge railway from Port Pirie to Broken Hill was converted to 4 ft 8½ (1435 mm), thus completing the standard transcontinental gauge line from Sydney to Perth.
Water
In the early days there was a severe water shortage and the mines and the people fought for water, so they would ship water on trains from the Darling River until 1952, when Broken Hill's demands for a permanent water supply were met with the completion of the pipeline to Stephen's Creek. Dams on the Darling River channel water to Broken Hill, making it an oasis amid the harsh climate and topography of the Australian outback.
Like many "outback" towns, Broken Hill was built on precious metals, having once had the world's richest deposits of lead, zinc and silver. Although now depleted somewhat, mining still yields around two million tonnes annually. Some mine tours are available. Sheep farming is now one of the principal industries in the area and there are considerably more sheep than people — almost 2 million Merino sheep.
Electric power
By the 1920s most of the nine mines on the Line of Lode had their own steam powered electrical generators to power the surface and underground workings. As Broken Hill is in a desert with little water and virtually no fuel steam generation was an expensive option. In 1927 a plan for a central power generating facility was proposed by F.J. Mars consulting electrical engineer with the Central Mine. The proposed powerhouse would generate electricity and compressed air. The mines agreed and formed Western New South Wales Electric Power Pty. Ltd. to construct and run the plant. The powerhouse was completed in 1931 and was diesel powered. This was one of the earliest examples of the use of diesel power generation in Australia. The plant was enlarged in 1950 to cope with increased demand from the North Mine. At the same time a new power station run by the Southern Power Corporation (owned by Consolidated Zinc) was erected near the new Broken Hill Consolidated Mine to provide power to the southern end of the Line of Lode. Both stations were connected as a grid.
A HVDC back-to-back station with a maximum transmission rate of 40 megawatts was built at Broken Hill in 1986. It consists of 2 static inverters working with a voltage of 8.33 kV. After this station was operational the two other power stations closed and their equipment was gradually removed.
Attractions
Broken Hill has many natural and man-made attractions on offer for the tourist. These include Stephen's Creek, many open cut mines for view, several quarries, lakes, the Mundi-Mundi plains and terrific sunsets.
Surprisingly, for a town with such a small population, Broken Hill has a burgeoning nightlife. Many clubs exist and are open most nights of the week until late. It is common for many Broken Hill residents to frequent the Musicians Club, Mario's Palace (as seen in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) or the Democratic Club.
Additionally, Broken Hill and the surrounding desert have served as the backdrop for movies and television commercials, most notably in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
Transportation
Broken Hill is one of the stops of the Indian Pacific passenger service, operated by the Great Southern Railway, from Sydney in New South Wales to Perth in Western Australia via Adelaide in South Australia. Great Southern Railway also operates The Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin in the Northern Territory and The Overland from Adelaide to Melbourne. The weekly CountryLink Xplorer service between Broken Hill and Sydney, which was introduced in 2005, arrives ex Sydney on Mondays at 1933-hours, departing ex Broken Hill on Tuesdays at 0745-hours for the return to Sydney. Regional Express operates air services to and from Adelaide and Sydney.
| Countrylink Western | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menindee | ↔ | Broken Hill | ||
| Indian Pacific | ||||
| Peterborough | ↔ | Broken Hill | ↔ | Menindee |
Climate
Dust storms are a common problem in the desert but the people of Broken Hill created reserves to surround the town thus protecting the town from the worst of the storms. 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 with an average of 25% humidity, although occasional rainfall and cooler weather exist.
Trivia
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (July 2007) |
- Broken Hill is mentioned, as the "Silver City", in the Cold Chisel song, Khe Sanh.
- There is a town in the computer game Fallout 2 called "Broken Hills". It is a mining community and the ___location was likely influenced by the town of Broken Hill and the fact that Road Warrior was filmed there.
Notable people from Broken Hill
- Pro Hart - artist
- Kelly Nestor - news presenter
- Jack Absalom - artist
- Eric Minchin - artist
- Hugh Schulz - artist
- June Bronhill - soprano opera singer
- Chips Rafferty - actor
- Steve Abbott - comedian
- Albert Morris - assayist & naturalist
- Tony Lockett - AFL footballer
- Brent Staker - AFL footballer
References
- ^ "Battle of Broken Hill". Retrieved 2006-11-16.
- ^ "Tarrawingee Line". Retrieved 2006-10-22.