Broken Hill is one of those places that draws us back. We decided to spend more time in the area this year, and tacked on a visit to White Cliffs while we were at it.

Broken Hill City Caravan Park has a choice of grass, woodchip or hard surface sites. It was tourist season, so we made sure of our preferred, lush grassy site by booking a couple of days ahead. This Top Tourist Park is rated at four stars and is conveniently located to the centre of town.

Broken Hill

The region was first ‘discovered’ in 1841 by Sir Thomas Mitchell. Charles Sturt saw the Barrier Ranges in 1844 while searching for the inland sea, and made reference to a “broken hill” in his diary. By the 1870s many of the smaller pastoral leases proved to be non-viable and were bought by cattle barons such as Sir Sydney Kidman.

In 1883, deposits of tin, lead, zinc and silver were found, and these would prove to be the largest and richest ore body of its kind in the world. The rest is history. Within eight years the population had grown to more than 20,000 and Broken Hill was known as the Silver City.

Some of the original wood and corrugated iron buildings (known as “tinnies”) can still be seen today, and the awful dust storms of the past have been controlled by a green belt around the town.

The main industry is mining, but tourism plays a large part in the local economy. The town has many historical buildings, while art galleries abound and several well-known artists live here.

The Line of Lode Miner’s Memorial and Visitors Centre is built on the edge of the mullock heap that runs right through the town. There is a wonderful view from the memorial and from the Block 10 and Browne’s Shaft lookouts, which also have heaps of interesting old mining equipment.

Broken Hill is a major service centre for the region. All services are available, including doctors and a major hospital.

You just can’t leave Broken Hill without having a milkshake or a “spider” at the old Bell’s Milk Bar and Museum, which has been kept exactly as it was in the 1950s.

Jack Absalom

We met Jack Absalom, the well-known painter, author and adventurer, at Victoria River in the NT and had been invited to catch up again at his studio and art gallery in Broken Hill. The building is a replica of his heritage-listed home, and displays his art as well as an outstanding opal collection. We swapped stories and I gave Jack a copy of CW (he loves reading caravan magazines). We also purchased a framed print of his Victoria River painting.

Sculpture Symposium

The Sculpture Symposium in the Living Desert flora and fauna sanctuary is 9km north of town. On April Fool’s Day in 1993, over 50 tonnes of very hard rock were delivered to the sculpture site, where several artists from around the world took two months to complete 12 works. The Broken Hill council provided funding and the local community supplied tools and scaffolding.

You can walk up to see the sculptures from the sanctuary car park or drive up after obtaining a key to the gate from the Visitors Centre. The gates to the sanctuary open at 8.30am and there was no one else when we arrived. It was a wonderful feeling being up on the hill with the sculptures, having only a euro for company. A sunset tour or visit would also be very desirable.

After coming back to the car, we had morning tea at the picnic area and then walked the track through the sanctuary. We suggest you take water with you on this walk as there are a number of hills and it seems longer than the brochure suggests. Sturt desert pea is a colourful feature of the flora site, and the 2km cultural walk displays a number of interesting aspects of the local Aboriginal culture, including replica dwellings.

Silverton

Silverton, 25km north-west of Broken Hill, has been the scene for several movies. The area has been mined from 1867 and its charm lies in the old buildings: several are used as galleries, others are in various stages of decay, but all are heritage-listed. The landscape is barren, and there were emus and donkeys wandering around. You can’t help but ponder the difficulties the miners would have had living and working in these harsh conditions.

The sealed road continues for 4km to the Mundi Mundi Plain lookout, and 6km further on, you come to the Umberumberka Reservoir and lookout with a picnic area and toilets.

A visit to Broken Hill would not be complete without a drive out to Silverton. There is a rustic caravan park for those who wish to stay longer.

White Cliffs

The road to the opal-mining town of White Cliffs is now fully sealed: head east 200km from Broken Hill to Wilcannia, then turn north for 95km. In Wilcannia, we found the BP service station in the back street to be much cheaper than the highway servo.

The drive to White Cliffs is through harsh, dry and barren country. We saw a number of wedge-tailed eagles soaring on the thermals and feasting on road kill. Due to the time it takes to lift their bulk into the air, these birds are very vulnerable to becoming road kill themselves. Please slow down to give them time to take off.

We had booked ahead for a powered site at White Cliffs and were glad we did, as the park was full most nights when we were there (April-May). We were allotted a site with concrete tracks for car and van, and a small concrete pad, while other sites were just dirt. Hot showers were $1. There was a camping area for those who did not require power, and a couple of motels in town as well. There is only one fuel outlet now.

Willy-willies may come through suddenly, so make sure you tie your awning down if leaving camp.

Our neighbours had been there for a couple of weeks and knew their way around, introducing us to a couple of local identities and showing us a spot to fossick for opals.

There is a visitor centre, pub, café, post office, golf course (interesting) and a great new coffee shop. The owner has opal “pineapples” on show: these odd-shaped opals are only found at White Cliffs. You can also inspect the solar system that powered the town several years ago.

Many locals live underground, and several homes are open for inspection. We found everyone to be friendly and welcoming, and were invited to join the locals at the weekly Friday night dinner opposite the pub.

There is still plenty of opal left in White Cliffs, and although we did not spend much time digging and only had our caravan shovel, we found several fair specimens plus some opalised wood.

This is an interesting place and we can certainly recommend a visit. Stay at least a couple of days to absorb the atmosphere.

Maybe it is because of the spectacularly colourful landscape, the artworks, the opal mining or the friendly locals, but you are sure to want to visit Broken Hill and White Cliffs more than once.

Broken Hill Area

Broken Hill is 1167km west of Sydney, Silverton is 25km north-west of Broken Hill and White Cliffs is 300km north-east of the Hill.

We stayed at the Broken Hill City Caravan Park, a Top Tourist Park rated at four stars, at Rakow Street, Broken Hill, NSW 2880, (08) 8087 3841, 1800 803 842.

In White Cliffs we stayed at the Opal Pioneer Caravan Park, a 2.5-star park in Johnston Street, (08) 8091 6688.

Broken Hill Visitors Centre – (08) 8080 3560

Silverton Information Centre – (08) 8088 7566

White Cliffs Tourist Association – (08) 8091 6705

Tony and Denyse Allsop, as featured in Caravan World magazine, issue 470, October 2009.