Broken Hill (pop. 21,000) is an artificial oasis in the arid desert landscape in the far west of New South Wales. This mining town was founded to serve the miners working the rich reserves of silver, lead and zinc discovered by Charles Rasp in 1883. In spite of its isolation and the hard living conditions the town, known as 'Silver City', grew
rapidly, and by the turn of the century it had a population of 20,000 and was to become an important intermediate station on the Indian Pacific line.
The Post Office with its clock tower dates from 1891, the Town Hall from the same period. There are a Roman Catholic cathedral and a simple iron mosque built in 1891 for the camel traders. The turn-of-the-century Trades Hall was the first trade union building in Australia: the trade unions played a dominant role in Broken Hill from the beginning. The Mining Museum occupies a former hotel of 1891.
Thanks to irrigation with water from local reservoirs and the Menindee Lakes there are attractive gardens along the Darling River. The streets are named after various chemical compounds.
Visitors can see round Delprat's Mine and the Daydream Mine, and also the premises of the School of the Air and the Flying Doctor Service.