It did rain last night but there was no evidence of that by morning. The
skies were again clear and the temperatures still cool, appropriate for spring
in mid-September. After doing yet another load of washing, we headed into the
middle of town to spend a day of culture and education.
Our first stop was the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, situated in
what was until 1985, Sully’s Emporium. New Zealand born Walter Sully moved his
store from Ballarat to Broken Hill in 1885, obviously canny enough to
understand that most money in mining booms is made by those in service and
supply industries. The two storey stone building which now houses art was built
in 1885 and was one of the grandest stores in the township.
In 1998 the Broken Hill City Council purchased the building and with
help from the NSW State Government, it was transformed to this excellent
gallery. The art works finely exhibited on the upper floor was collected by
George McCulloch, he of the McCulloch Range we had considered as a stopping
place two days ago, during his lifetime. This collection was at the time
considered to be the finest in the Empire and so it was this that was
bequeathed to the gallery. It was this same McCulloch who with six others made up the original
Syndicate of Seven who were the nemesis of BHP and the great mining boom here
in Broken Hill.
We enjoyed the works exhibited on the ground floor, all part of the
Outback Open Art Prize 2012, still here for just this week, which was fortunate
for us. Needless to say, we also enjoyed viewing the excellent works on the
upper floor, equal to collections anywhere else in the country we have seen.
After wandering up and down the main street, admiring many of the fine
buildings and appreciating the many descriptive panels about to assist us with
understanding the history of this city, we picnicked in Kintore Park just across
from the Information Centre where there are several mining relicts displayed.
Lunch was uneventful however a wander around the exhibits proved dangerous; I
kept my exploration to a minimum after watching a magpie attack another woman
three times when she wandered near a posse that must host a nest.
Our next project was a visit to the Sulphide
Street Railway and Historical Museum. Much of this revolves around trains
as it is situated on the old Silverton tramway terminus and is worth a visit. There
are actually several mini museums all incorporated on the one spot; the Migrant
Heritage Museum, the Hospital Museum, the Triple Chance Mineral Collection and
the Ron Carter Transport pavilion. I spent a lot of time reading through the
wonderful stories of the migrants who came from Europe during the first half of
last century to make Broken Hill home. I even enjoyed exploring the Silver City
Comet train which operated from 1937 to 1989 between Broken Hill and Parkes, the
first air-conditioned train service in Australia.
Here seems to be a good place to précis Broken Hill’s history:
Both Mitchell and Sturt visited the area in 1835 and during the 1840s,
followed by great flocks of sheep and pastoral settlement. The original mining claim
was pegged out in 1883 and mining boomed through the late 1880s and through the
very early years of the next century. In those latter years, Broken Hill was
choked by strikes and great dust storms, the latter caused by the fact that many
of the trees that had previously covered the landscape had been stripped out as
building materials. Despite all that, by 1907, Broken Hill was proclaimed the
second largest settlement in NSW.
By 1937, the dust storms were still part of life in Broken Hill however
BHP had run out of ore to mine. Other mining companies moved in but production
at the past levels slowly dwindled. In the 1950s the population was 31,267; by
the 1970s the population had reduced to 27,647.
After more than 125 years mining a 300 million tonne mineral system, the
eight kilometre long, 1.6 kilometre deep Line of Lode still supports mining,
making Broken Hill one of the longest continual mining towns in the world.
And as a post script to the dust storms, during the 1930s, Albert Morris
and his wife set about planting areas with native plants to re-vegetate the
barren surrounds of the city. The idea caught on, eventually adopted by the mining
companies and the civic authorities, which ultimately provided a green belt of
vegetation around Broken Hill. Today the dust storms of a century ago are but a
memory.
After spending some time poking around this evolving museum, we walked
further down the street intending to see the world’s largest acrylic painting,
a 100 by 12 metre diorama of the Broken Hill outback. This is situated in a
commercial enterprise, the Silver City
Art Centre which is an emporium style store of artwork. In fact the
quantity and variety of artwork, souvenirs and sweets is just so overwhelming, and
neither Chris nor I felt like paying to view Peter Anderson’s painting after
all.
We returned to the vehicle and hunted out the Woolworths supermarket and
restocked with fresh fruit and vegetables, before retiring to camp.
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