I’m liking this Broken Hill place. I’ve been here before, years ago and its sort of familiar -ish. But I can't actually remember anything except the mine stuff. It's also eyeball scorchingly hot too but the hostel has a small pool which is a great way to cool off.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service has a base here, and we popped into see them, have a look around and say ‘thanks’ following Gordon’s little mishap.
I didn’t realise that they were linked to the regular ambos, but apparently they are, and they were quite excited when they heard what had happened and asked us back to a presentation thing the next day.
Then we went to Silverton, a town 20kms from BH and famous as the film set for the Mad Max 1&2.
Adrian started the museum several years ago and its a real shrine to the film with pictures, cars, and memorabilia. It is so quirky and really is worth a visit of you just happen to be tipping past Silverton and have a need to be amazed.
And then there's the donkey which hangs around the pub.
He’s about 35 years old and recently lost his mate who fell into the tip and injured itself so badly that it had to be shot. Poor thing.
Some of the Mad Max stuff was filmed just down the road at Mundi Mundi Plain, which has such a great name that we had to visit.... despite it being Tuesday Tuesday. Sorry, that was terrible but the joke had to be made.
So the RFDS presentation then; it was the Reverend Flynn’s desk which had been presented to the museum. He was the bloke who started it all, so it was quite an important artifact. ABCTV and BH radio were there, and we were interviewed on both, which was quite amusing. Really nice people and nice to be able to thank them for helping us.
I had assumed that it was always hot in Broken Hill and indeed it is, only not this hot. Its been over 40º for the last three weeks and its overpowering. Even when the sun starts to cool after midday, there is no respite because although it stops scorching your head, heat then starts getting released from the concrete and tarmac and sizzles your legs. And that of course, zaps your energy and puts you off doing things.
But we persevered, wandering into The Palace Hotel where Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was part filmed,
an art gallery which had some good stuff in it but even better air conditioning, and a museum where the prize exhibit is a silver tree, made out of one nugget of silver found at BH.
It also had various minerals and stuff on display with quite good explanations, but the best of all was a cheeky little offering called Cummingtonite. What? Well done naming it after Mr Cumming, but come on; cummingtonite? Please!
Broken Hill is a city built on mining, and its got ( had) one of the biggest lodes every, anywhere, a lode being the ore deposit. And its tin, lead, iron and other stuff here.
But Silver is the thing, hence the various associated references - Argent Street ( argent being french and latin for silver of course) Silver City Highway, Blende Street, Tin Pan Alley. No,ok, I made the last one up, but you get the idea.
And they’ve preserved the heritage very well, with various things dotted around town.
But for a mining city, it is also surprisingly arty, with lots of galleries dotted about as well as artists’ studios. I don’t mind going to the odd one ( particularly when its cool inside) but they’re not really my thing. Nor are museums, but photo galleries, yes. However, despite meaning to, I never got to any in Broken Hill although I did manage to see some open collections of stuff.
About 10kms outside the city are twelve statues, carved from imported sandstone and placed on an outcrop overlooking the city and the desert. They’re quite stark and I’m sure impressive to some, only not to me. However, having seen them in the mid afternoon heat, I went back at sunrise this morning to capture the golden light as it rose over the horizon. I’m glad I made the effort too; absolute silence, still air, and long shadows. A really special time of day but one that is mostly missed by all.
Look at the shadow and hole made by my helmet; matches the sculpture!
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