But before I start with more information about Broken Hill I thought I'd give you a taste of what the countryside was like along the way.
First we had to cross the Murray River - this time we did it at a little town called Cadell.
We weren't long on our way when the car swerved suddenly (but gently) to avoid some sleepy lizards that were crossing the road. Sleepy lizards are also sometimes called stump-tailed skinks, or shinglebacks - they are all the same thing. They are often seen sunning on roadsides or other paved surfaces, and I guess when the temperature is already about 35 degrees at 10:00 am, that makes for ideal lizard sunning conditions. Although this little fellow was clearly not too happy with me and having his picture taken, this defence strategy is, unfortunately for him, all bluff.
After that we had the 450+ kms to Broken Hill.
Broken Hill is Australia's longest-lived mining city (town?). In 1844 the explorer Charles Sturt explored the area of Broken Hill on his quest for an inland sea (which BTW he never found), and silver ore was later discovered in 1883. 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 has a massive ore body, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, and has proved to be among the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposits. The ore body is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the ore body stood out as a jagged, rocky ridge with plain country on either side. This was known as the broken hill by early pastoralists, and the miners called the ore body the Line of Lode.
Junction Mine, at the northern end of the outcropping was first pegged in 1884 and from here you can see where three shafts were sunk. Mining continued on this site until 1972. Today the site is still amazingly intact, and also provides a lovely view over the city of Broken Hill, which currently has a population of approx. 18 000 - 19 000 people.
The original syndicate of seven that held the seven mining leases on the broken hill named their venture the Broken Hill Mining Company. This stone chimney marks the site of the first stone hut built by the Broken Hill Mining Company to house its first manager, in 1885. Broken Hill Mining Company soon became known as Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. (BHP) and is now known as BHP Billiton.
And these are some of the original administration offices of BHP.
The stark reality of working in Broken Hill's mines over the ages is writ large on the Miners Memorial, built at the Line of Lode Mine. It lists the names of more than 800 miners who have lost their lives on the job.
Broken Hill is also the scene of the only enemy attack on Australian soil in WW1. The Battle of Broken Hill took place on New Year's Day, 1915, when two men fired upon a trainload of people who were heading to a New Year's Day picnic. At that time Australia was at war with the Ottoman Empire and these two men were first thought to be Turkish. They were later identified as being from the British colony of India, modern day Afghanistan. They killed six and wounded seven and then lead policemen and soldiers on a chase through the outback. After running for about 3 kms the killers took refuge at an Afghan camel camp and there ensued a three hour gun battle during which four civilians were killed and seven wounded.
This old train car, an example of the ones the people would have been riding in on their way to the picnic, marks the site of the ambush.
As you can see, Broken Hill definitely has a lot of history associated with it - and to think I only got here about 3 o'clock this afternoon! I'm really looking forward to my next couple of days here.
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