Brrrrr! Broken Hill

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Ok. Long pants? Short pants? Actually it wasn’t really that cold (26°C), just a lot cooler than we had been accustomed to over the last 4 weeks.



Tempted by the potential views and description in Tourist brochures, we headed for the Broken Earth Restaurant for lunch. Set high up on the overburden heap overlooking the city of Broken Hill, this ultra-modern building offered stunning views of the city and surrounds, fabulous dining, galleries and a memorial to those who have lost their lives over the years in the mines in the Broken Hill area.



The lunch menu sounded great but unfortunately our options were somewhat limited to a few as a power surge earlier in the morning had knocked out the fryer and the coffee machine. None-the-less the chosen gourmet pizza and bottle of wine were awesome and gave us plenty of time to soak up the view and watch the very long train coming into the station way down below us.



Following lunch we visited the memorial site. We were astounded by the large number of plaques dedicated to those who had lost their lives in the Broken Hill mines. Each plaque gave the deceased’s name, date and nature of their death. Reasons ranged from such things as suffocation, falls down a mineshaft, underground fire, crush by machinery and underground explosions. Over 800 plaques were mounted on a central board. These demonstrated just how vulnerable the miners were and how dangerous mines can be. It also showed how recent advances in Occupational Health and Safety laws and practices have positively impacted the industry as only 2 deaths were recorded since the year 2000.



Next up was the Silver City Mint and Art Centre. This turned out to be just an outlet for some pretty average and very touristy jewellery and artworks. Hence we didn’t stay long. They did have some interesting sheet metal sheep sculptures which made us think of Thel and Ali and their sheep gift war. These would have made a novel addition, but we weren’t buying into it.



On the other hand the Albert Kersten Mining and Mineral Museum captivated us with its collection of mineral samples from the Broken Hill area. A video and visual display explained the formation of the Broken Hill Silver lead and zinc deposit. A 42 kg silver nugget on display was under heavy security as was the iconic ‘Silver Tree’ sculpture once owned by Charles Rasp (the man who discovered ore at Broken Hill).



The afternoon done, we returned to the caravan for dinner, an episode or 2 of ‘Big bang Theory’ before retiring for a cuddly night under some covers. Yep it was cooler!

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Photos

Goldilocks on Grandpa’s chair.
This large model park seat was a climbing sculpture in the car park. You can see who it was that just couldn’t resist the temptation to climb it.