The first Europeans to visit the area was the team of Surveyor General, Major Thomas Mitchell, in 1841. Three years later, Charles Sturt named the Barrier Range, so naming it because it was blocked to his journey north. Burke and Wills passed through the area on their 1860–61 expedition, setting up a base camp at nearby Menindee. Pastoralists first began settling the area in the 1850s, and the main trade route to the area was along the Darling River.
Broken Hill was founded in 1883 by boundary rider Charles Rasp, who patrolled the Mount Gipps fences, and discovered what he thought was tin, but the samples proved to be silver and lead. The orebody they came from proved to be the largest and richest of its kind in the world. Rasp and six associates founded the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) in 1885.
The massive orebody, which formed about 1,800 million years ago, has proved to be among the world’s largest silver–lead–zinc mineral deposits. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the orebody stood out as a jagged rocky ridge amongst undulating plain country on either side. This was known as the broken hill by early pastoralists. Miners called the ore body the Line of Lode.
Early survival was extremely difficult. Trees were needed for buildings and mine stopes, for fuel in homes and smelters. By 1900, people had to travel as far as Menindee to find treed to harvest. Water was also very scarce. It was harvested from snakes but these were often dry. When bores were sunk the water was often good salty to use. Water was then carted from the Darling River.
Many new mines were developed in the 1920’s which was the reason that Broken Hill continued after the original discovery of lode. Since most of Broken Hill is quite far from a major water supply, original settlement was virtually non-existent. After the mineral discoveries, minerals were transported from Broken Hill via the Silverton train, unlike most mining communities that used nearby waterways. Additionally, water itself was transported into Broken Hills for use in the mines by train. It wasn’t until 1952 that a water pipeline was run to Broken Hill, and in 1960 the Menindee Lakes storage was opened.
By 1915 BHP had realised that its ore reserves were limited and began to diversify into steel production. Mining at the BHP mines ceased in 1939. BHP was not the only mining operation at Broken Hill though, and mining continued at the southern and northern ends of the Line of Lode.
The Battle of Broken Hill took place on New Year’s Day 1915 when two Afghan men, pushing an ice-cream cart, hoisted a Turkish Flag and fired upon a trainload of people headed to a New Years Day picnic. Since Australia was at war at the time with the Ottoman Empire, the men were first thought to be Turkish, but were later identified as being from the British colony of India. They killed four and wounded six, before they were killed by a group of policemen and soldiers.
Broken Hill is also known for its input into the formation of the labour movement in Australia, and has a rich trade union history. The last dispute led to the formation in 1923 of the Barrier Industrial Council, a group of 18 trade unions, which became one of the most influential organisations in the politics of the city.
Due to the extensive daylight hours at Broken Hill, it was considered an excellent location for a solar plant. The construction of the Broken Hill Solar Plant was completed in 2015 and is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
Today, Broken Hill is the unofficial capital of the NSW Outback, and is a very popular destination – great to view this amazing mining town. It has a population of around 17,500.