In todays post you really need to view the FullScreen virtual tour [Link Above] to appreciate the included historical images. This pano is shot from a hill in the middle of the town, looking south east to the huge hill of dirt we’ve been on for the past couple of days. On the ‘Broken Earth’, you can see the Restaurant & the Miners Memorial, and also appreciate how it towers over the town.
The historical photo boards in the park depict the view from here. The main panorama was shot in 1907, and shows that the original ‘Broken Hill’ was basically gone by then, while the town had become quite large. The smaller image below the panorama & right in front of us was shot in 1888 almost 20 years earlier & shows the jagged outline of the original hill.
The Miners Memorial sits atop the ‘line of load’ (the big hill of dirt where THE broken hill used to be) along side the Broken Earth Cafe Restaurant. It’s a memorial to the 700+ miners who have died here since the 1800′s when the mines began. The name and cause of death for every fatality is listed in the memorial. You can read a partial list here.
The 2 structures were funded by a ‘Centenery of Federation’ grant, & were completed in 2000. And as mentioned in previous posts, you get a great view of northern Broken Hill from up here.
Being a 120yr old mining town you’d expect to see many relics of the old mines, and there are, but not as many as you’d think. The vast mines & above ground operations of yesteryear were often broken down and replaced when new technology came along or when mines were abandoned. There are of course photos of the old operations, but not so many relics.
Behind the original Broken Hill mine (Which is now a tour operation) I found this abandoned old car. It appears someone has tried to drive it in here in a wet period (of which Broken Hill has very few) and got it bogged. They’ve used planks to keep it out of the mud, but the back wheels have slid off, and the car has never moved again. Judging by the age of the car I would have thought this happened a very long time ago, but on the back of the vehicle are plastic water (or chemical) containers leading me to believe this car was not abandoned too long ago.
In fact, just reading over this post I’ve postulated a theory. It was wet (which is rare), there is an old car with water tanks on the back, and a huge black water tank about 20 metres away. Perhaps someone was attempting to fill the portable water tanks from the black water tank which was overflowing in a rare wet period?
If anyone can tell me what sort of car this is, or even when it was abandoned, I’ll update the post to keep everyone informed.
Broken Hill was founded on the ‘Line of Load’ a massive ore body that runs through the middle of ‘Broken Hill’. The original Hill is now gone, but for a few tiny remnants, and in its place lies a vast hill of excavated earth. This hill is said to be about the size of the original ‘Broken Hill’.
Atop the vast hill is the Broken Earth Cafe & Restaurant which affords views over all the town. You can even see out to the Hill of Sculptures 6km’s away, mentioned a couple of days ago.
Don’t let the map below put you off. It looks like a big mine excavation site (and it is) but from the top you can see for miles, and have a meal at the same time.
Broken Hill is a small town on the Edge of the Australian Outback. 1200km (745 miles) west of Sydney & 500km (310 miles) north east of Adelaide, it’s a very, very long way from anywhere.
Broken Hill is also known as the ‘Silver City’ because of the vast amounts of silver extracted from the mines over the past 120 years, and being a mining town, many of it’s road are named after chemicals. In fact the road we’re standing on in the pano above is ‘Chloride St’, with Sulphide, Bromide & Oxide Streets running parallel to the main road.
