First stop this morning is the Line of Lode Memorial. This is named after the local ore body, and sits atop the mullock heap that overlooks the town. I tried up here after dark last evening to take some happy snaps of the town at night, but the gate at the base of the hill was locked. A forbidding looking sign said that it was too dangerous to access. I assumed from this that the mullock heap had suddenly unstable, and that whole great chunks of it were now at risk of sliding off and engulfing half the town. Im a bit surprised then to see that the gate seems to be open this morning, and, for that matter, that most of the town hasnt been evacuated. Hmmm. Surely they couldnt have stabilised something so big and dangerous so quickly, and Im now beginning to wonder how safe it really is, despite the open gate. We decide to chance it. If the road slides down into the valley when were halfway up it at least it will be all over quickly.
since operations started back in 1883. It lists the names of all the deceased by year. There do seem to be an awful lot of them, but it is at least slightly heartening to see that the numbers appear to have reduced quite a bit in recent years. They were clearly dropping like flies in the early days. The memorial also lists how each miner died. Whilst this is undoubtedly useful information, it feels just a bit too early in the morning to be having visions of things like crushed by machinery, mistimed explosion, crushed by rock collapse or fell down mine shaft, to name just a few. The Memorial is an architectural masterpiece, and the views of the town from up here are excellent.
The Memorials souvenir shop includes a number of references to the Battle of Broken Hill. We read that this was an incident on New Years Day in 1915 in which four passengers on a train on its way from Broken Hill to Silverton for a picnic were shot dead by two local Muslim Ghan gunmen. Seven others were injured, before the instigators were shot dead by police and military personnel. The attack was
apparently politically and religiously motivated by recent British hostilities against the Ottoman Empire. ....and we thought terrorism was a relatively recent phenomenon. It seems there was more than a little local unrest in the aftermath. It was rumoured that some local Germans had agitated the attack. A mob responded by torching the towns German Club, and then cutting the hoses of the firemen who turned up to try to put it out. The next day eleven deemed enemy aliens (Austrians, Germans and a Turk) were fired from the mines and forced to leave town. Im not sure they would have gotten too far. It seems that shortly thereafter enemy aliens from all around the country were rounded up and interred for the rest of the war.
Back on solid ground again I point out to Issy my observation from yesterday that they dont seem to bother with stormwater pipes here; if it rains all the runoff just gets channeled down large dips in the roads. Her reaction suggests that she continues to be surprised at what an engineer notices in amongst the plethora of historic and scenic wonders that is Broken Hill. I wonder what its like to drive
around here when it rains. A lot of the dips look quite deep. At least Ive brought my gum boots with me. I suspect my beloved may have neglected to do likewise so Im not quite sure how shes going to cope if the heavens open while were driving.
We head up to the Keenan Lookout for more views over the town, this time from a different angle. The mullock heaps certainly are massive, dominate the skyline. We wonder what the skyline might have looked like - very different we suspect.
Next stop is the airport for the Royal Flying Doctor Service Experience. Were given a tour of an aircraft hangar and a museum, and watch a video.
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