We left Cessnock on 1st May heading for Broken Hill; we travelled via Dunedoo, Gilgandra and arrived in Nyngan for a couple of nights. Nyngan located in the Bogan Shire on the banks of the Bogan River and what more can I say.
Heading for Broken Hill out of Nyngan you travel through Cobar and Wilcannia. Wilcannia is describes in the tourist book as “it was a thriving inland port with 13 hotels and a population of 13000. The legacy is apparent today on streets lined with historic architecture, best viewed by walking the town’s historic heritage trail’. Not bloody likely .The road was flat and straight with Roos, Emus and wild Goats wandering around. No close shaves, they were very well behaved and stayed off the road. About twenty Ks out of Broken Hill were signs warning that all fresh fruit and vegetable good had to be disposed of, so into the fruit fly bin it went, great, I suppose that’s one way of making people spend in you town.
 |
| MOBILE HOME AT NYNGAN C'VAN PARK |
We stayed at Silverland Roadhouse Caravan Park, no grass, reasonable amenities and only $25 per night, staying 7 nights.
Broken Hill is a very large place, but boy we are still trying to find the “nice” part of town; yea I know I’m a snob. I is amazing that there we some houses (a term I use loosely to describe some of them) that looked like they were knocked together with what every scrap corrugated iron they could lay their hands on and then there would be thousands of dollars worth of solar panels on top, go figure.
Broken Hill is divided by the “Line of Load”, an enormous mullock heap and on top is a lookout and a memorial to the some 2000 odd miners that have been killed in the mines since they started operating in the late 1800’s. That 2000 does not include all the ones that have died after toiling down the mine for years and breathing in the dust and fumes from down the mines, especially in the early days. After reading some of the stories of the miners and the mine owners it is no wonder that Broken Hill was really the birth place of the Labour movement and trade unions in Australia, put basically the owners were absolute “bastards” and treated the worker like trash.
 |
| MINERS MEMORIAL |
On a better note the Pro Hart Gallery was truly amazing, and he was an amazing bloke but with some rather funny ideas. The galley has a three storey tower in the middle with a walkway around it with some of his more famous paintings in pride of place, some truly brilliant pieces of art. Pro loved music, could listen to Bach all day and in particular his love of “big” organ music is evident by his large pipe organ on display in his gallery. He was a self taught musician and regularly played his organ.
To the west of Broken Hill is Silverton, an old mining town that was actually the start of mining in the area some time before the riches of Broken Hill were discovered. Now Silverton is a place where the tourists visit to view artist galleries and the Silverton Hotel. Silverton is also an area popular with film makers, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mad Max 2 and many others were made in the area. About 10k further on from Silverton is the Mundi Mundi Plain. The view from the lookout allows you to see the curvature of the earth and the sunset is magnificent.
The Living Desert Sculpture Park is an area where about 12 or so sculpture were done by artists from all around the world. They were all invited to take part over a three month period to complete a magnifcent park on top of a hill about 10 ks from Broken Hill.
 |
| LIVING DESERT SCULPTURE PARK |
 |
| MUNDI MUNDI PLAIN |
South East of Broken Hill is the Menindee Lakes system. A system of lakes filled by the Darling River, a lot of the roads around the lakes are currently under water due to the high level of the river, but it is an amazing wet lands area with a vast amount of bird life. The area in days gone was a sheep station called Kinchega, this is now the name of the National Park the covers the lake region. The old woolshed a Kinchega is a magnificent old building built from River Red Gum and had stations for 62 shearers and had sheared up to 110000 head of sheep a season in its better years. You can feel the smoothness and the lanolin in the timbers of the pens and runs in the shed.
 |
| KINCHEGA WOODSHED |
South Broken Hill hides the little gem, Bells Milk Bar. An institution since the 1950s, a real trip back in time, the thick shake was that thick and cold a spoon was certainly required. They make all their own flavourings and syrups, very nice.
Next part of the trip will take us to Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges. So until them stay safe and have fun....
No comments:
Post a Comment