There are still lots of lovely little miner’s cottage in Broken Hill.
Some of them have been done up beautifully and others are ho hum. Same as
everywhere I guess.
We have enjoyed our time in Broken Hill, but it is now off to Silverton
– a distance of 25 kms! We checked in to Penrose Park in Silverton, a caravan
and camping area of 62 acres. There are a few powered sites, but you need to
use your own water. We didn’t realise that until we got here so we were pleased
we were full. There is a camp kitchen to do your washing up, as well as
showers. There are a few toilet blocks spread around the park. There is also a
laundry for use, for a donation, which is good.
We just left the van and headed to the Day Dream Mine to do a tour of
it. They only do 2 tours a day. One at 10 and one at 11.30am. We got there in
time to have morning tea. No coffee machines, just basic and for a hot
chocolate, you got Milo, but that was fine. Nice scones. Loved the way they got
their water hot.
The Day Dream Mine is a silver mine of about 60% purity and dates from
the 1880’s. 8 year old boys worked in the Mine which is horrifying to think
about. Miners who had lung disease from the mines used to sleep sitting up so
they wouldn’t drown in the blood in their lungs. We were also shown the
horehound plant which they used to make illicit grog and it made them blind for
2-3 days, hence the term blind drunk.
At the peak of the Mine’s existence there was a pub, police station,
general store and bakery and 400 people lived there. The guide told us that the
Chinese are drilling holes for samples near the Mine. I don’t know what that
would mean for the current Mine if the Chinese found anything.
To get into the Mine, we had to climb down backwards along a low, rough
slope, taking it very easy. However, it was very interesting to see. We went
down to the 100 foot level.
After lunch we went to Helen Murray’s Photographic Gallery and Garden
called Helbar Farm. It was amazing to see the lovely garden she has in the
midst of the red dirt and scrubby vegetation surrounding her place. I asked her
if Broken Hill and the area had water restrictions. She said that as there was
such a high evaporation rate, it is really use it or lose it.
Helen Murray’s husband has horse races so there was a stable there and
underneath the stable is quite a big cellar, which is where their dog, Bandit,
goes in summer. She had a sheet of information on the history of the house
which was really interesting. The land itself was farmed by the Chinese in the
1880’s. One of the previous owners, the Kaye’s, his wife committed suicide
during her battle with cancer and her husband and son sold the house and moved
away. The son, Norman, who was 18 or 19 at the time has since been back a few
times and has given her a lot of information.
Helen had beautiful photographs of the area. She had a few photographs
of a wedge-tail eagle, which we have seen plenty of but not been able to
photograph. So we bought a couple of small photo cards from her which was
really good. We spent quite a bit of time there talking to her. She was saying
that the price for kangaroo meat is very low at the moment and it is not even
worth the professional shooters time to kill. They are everywhere.
We drove out to the Umberumerka Reservoir which is one of the places
Broken Hill, and Silverton, get their water. While we were there, we collected
some firewood as there is absolutely none at the caravan park.
We then drove a bit further out on to the Mundi Mundi Plains, which are
very flat. If we kept going, we could get to Tibooburra but it is a dirt road
all the way and rough. The Plains stretch across to the Flinders Ranges and we
could see them in the distance from the Lookout.
There is the Mundi Mundi Lookout about 6 kms from Silverton so we
parked there and waited for the sunset. Beautiful. Pinks, yellows, mauves, and
shades in between. It was lovely.
We had a campfire with our collected wood and were joined by a couple
from Newcastle who are camped next to us. They had thongs on! Obviously didn’t
feel the cold.
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