Broken Hill

The land around Broken Hill is the country of the Wilyakali people. In 1883 Charles Rasp, a boundary rider checking fences on Mount Gipps station, found what he thought was tin on a jagged ridge known as the broken hill; the samples proved to be silver and lead. In 1885 Rasp and six partners, the Syndicate of Seven, formed the Broken Hill Proprietary Company — BHP — and the ridge turned out to be one of the richest orebodies of silver, lead and zinc ever found. A town grew quickly beside the Line of Lode, and other mining companies worked the northern and southern ends of the ridge.

Mining here was dangerous, and the city became a stronghold of the labour movement. Bitter disputes in 1892, 1909 and 1919–20 made Broken Hill a byword for union power. On New Year's Day 1915 two men flying a Turkish flag fired on a picnic train outside the town, killing four people; the event is remembered as the Battle of Broken Hill. BHP ended mining here in 1939, having already turned to steelmaking elsewhere, but other companies continued.

Mining has shrunk since the 1970s and the population has fallen, but work continues on parts of the lode. Art, tourism, film-making and renewable energy have grown alongside it, and in 2015 Broken Hill became the first city in Australia to be included on the National Heritage List.

Broken Hill is a city of painters. In the 1970s a group of local artists, among them the former miner Pro Hart and Jack Absalom, became known as the Brushmen of the Bush, and in the 1970s they exhibited in London, Rome, New York and Los Angeles, raising money for charities such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Today the city has a regional art gallery, many private galleries and studios, and the Living Desert Sculptures on a hilltop north of town.

Its desert landscapes and old buildings have long drawn film-makers. Mad Max 2 was filmed around Silverton and the Mundi Mundi plains, and scenes of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were filmed in the town and the surrounding outback. The television series The Flying Doctors was made in the district, reflecting the importance of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which has a major base here.

The city looks west as much as east. It keeps South Australian time, is regarded as part of South Australia for phone and postal charges, and follows Australian rules football. The camel drivers known as Afghans, who supplied the outback in the 19th century, left the first mosque in New South Wales. Aboriginal people now make up about a tenth of the population, and their art and history are a growing part of the city's cultural life.

About 17,600 people live in Broken Hill, down from a peak of around 30,000 in the early 1960s. It is the main centre in the far west of New South Wales and serves a huge, thinly populated area of sheep stations, small towns and Aboriginal communities with hospitals, schools, shops and government services.

Mining remains an important employer, but health care, education, retail and tourism are also important, and a large solar plant was completed in 2016. Household incomes are lower than the national average, and the city has an older population, with a median age of 44. Lead contamination from more than a century of mining is a long-standing health concern, particularly for young children, and the city runs programmes to reduce exposure.

Life follows the climate: early starts in the summer heat, outdoor sport and barbecues on mild evenings, and weekends at the river or on the plains. Water comes from the Menindee Lakes and, since 2019, a pipeline from Wentworth on the Murray River, and the health of the Darling River during droughts is a constant local concern.

Broken Hill's eating is outback and pub-based. The big pubs of the centre serve counter meals — steaks, schnitzels, roasts and burgers — in dining rooms that once fed shift workers from the mines, and bakeries sell meat pies and pasties.

The surrounding sheep country, home to almost 2 million Merino sheep, supplies lamb and mutton, and many local barbecues feature lamb chops and sausages. Freshwater fish such as Murray cod and golden perch live in the Darling River and the lakes to the east.

Being closer to Adelaide than to Sydney, the city shares many South Australian ties and tastes. Cafés on Argent Street, the old pub in Silverton and a growing number of small restaurants complete the picture. The city also has a long tradition of clubs, among them the Musicians Club and the Barrier Social Democratic Club, known as the Demo Club, where locals and visitors eat and meet friends.