Broken Hill, NSW:

Mandy Jackson
Mar 5, 2021
5 min read

This very iconic outback town has been on Mandy's bucket list for a long, long time, however it was Col's 3rd visit this time around ... we stopped at Broken Hill for 4 nights (5 mostly stinking hot days) and it was absolutely brilliant - highly recommended - however, we would suggest you don't go in Febuary like we did as it is really too hot!

Broken Hill is actually one of the 1st recognised heritage townships in Australia - as it is steeped in important mining, union and other history, as well as having a large number of very beautiful early Australian architectural buildings throughout the township.

We covered so much in our 5 short days visiting Broken Hill & the nearby historical mining town of Silverton - so I am just going to add our favourite stops & pictures below with a brief description for each;

Broken Hill Miners Memorial & Broken Earth Cafe;

A mining career in the very early years generally seemed to be a death sentence and incredibly hard, hot, physical work - I am very pleased I was not born back in the early settler days - although apparently females were not allowed in the mines anyway because it was bad luck?

On our first day in Broken Hill we drove up to look at the Miners Memorial and lookout. This memorial has been built up high on the mine heap overlooking Broken Hill as a reminder of all the miners who have died doing their job in the Broken Hill Mines across its history ... there are hundreds, it is really quite shocking. For example - in 1913 there were 37 men killed in the mine doing their job across the year & that was acceptable (there is no record of the men who died from lung or other related diseases from breathing deadly dust for years). From the early 1900's forward most years showed an average of 4 or more deaths per year & then the union movement happened, strikes started in the fight for better working conditions & WH&S legislation came into effect - work became slowly mechanised and these days deaths in the mine are rare ... so Broken Hill was instumental as a forerunner in the creation of the union movement & WHS Law in Australia.

Art Galleries & Antique Stores;

We visited several private art galleries & Antique stores around Broken Hill - there are 30 odd art galleries in & around the township, so there was a lot of choice.

Our favourite was the Pro Hart Gallery - we went back twice & walked away on the second visit with a signed & framed Pro Hart etching as a keepsake of our trip to Broken Hill.

Sculpture Hill;

This is a wonderful spot to visit with some brilliant sculptures & a 360° outlook back toward Broken Hill & surrounds ... we drove out there early in the morning when it was cool & there were hardly any other tourists - it was great.

Railway & Mining History Museum;

This is a must do Broken Hill attraction with some really interesting & unusual museum pieces - we really enjoyed our morning poking around in the museum.

Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery;

Not a huge gallery, but we really enjoyed our visit and there were some wonderful exhibits on display when we were there ... and Mandy loves galleries!

Whites Mineral & Mining Museum & Gallery;

A privately built museum & Gallery which was very interesting and worth a stop - the old lady that took us on a very informative tour of their museum was a bit dry & slow to warm, but Col warmed her up with lots of questions & we ended up spending a fair bit of time with her & gained a great deal of information about mining history & processes.

The Lady at this museum also made unusual dolls and bears herself & had these on display in a seperate room.

'Drag Bingo' @ the Palace Hotel - A night out in Broken Hill;

The Palace Hotel in the main street of Broken Hill became famous following the making of the now cult movie 'Pracilla Queen of the Desert' - which the hotel featured strongly in the filming of.

We decided to have dinner at the Palace Hotel in Broken Hill to check out the opulant internal painted murals we had heard about and join a few games of 'Drag Bingo' for fun.

Our Drag Bingo host for the night was 'Ahmanda' a very tall & strikingly butch transdresser who wore a long blonde wig, sparkly expensive dresses & who is clearly far better at applying make-up than most. The night out & performance was rude, crude, inappropriate, lots of fun and heaps of laughs.

Dinner was delicious ... Mandy won one round of bingo straight up & scored a cheap mug & lollypop as a prize.

Colin on the otherhand called 'Bingo' at the same time as another lady, so he then had to do a dance off for a really pathetic prize - which he lost ... but he did recieve a complimentry wine for being good natured (however, Mandy drank most of the wine & we actually think the wine was a better score than the actual prize - so a win really!). All good fun and a nice might out in Broken Hill - not for the easily offended, but we loved it.

Broken Hill Buildings & Architecture:

There are some truly amazing homes & buildings in Broken Hill;

Silverton Daydream Mine Tour:

This was excellent ... it was very hard on the old unused leg muscles climbing down into the mine & then back out again - but it was an interesting experience & plesantly cool down underground. Mandy did not loose her very clostraphobic nerves at all and we stayed for the full tour (unlike another couple that backed out of the mine & left just 5 minutes into the tour). It was a very worthwhile experience ... however, we could never become gold diggers (or even silver, lead, zinc or opal diggers) as it is way too much like hard work - very happy to leave that for day dreamers!

Silverton:

Well worth a visit ... just sleep in & drive out to Silverton later in the morning - we got there at 9.00am & absolutely nothing was open until 10.30am - so we went for a drive & took photos of some of the buildings :

Silverton Pub:

We stopped at the Silverton Pub so that we could each drink a gallon of anything cold (it was that sort of hot & dry day) ... and then we stayed for lunch. Silverton pub and township is famous for not only its very early Australian mining history, but also because the township has been used as a film prop in multiple movies - such as Mad Max and Breaker Morant. There are also some cute local donkeys that like to hang out at the pub & the locals have been known to bring their horses into the bar ... so its a pub with a bit of character.