Sights in Outback
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Sculpture Symposium
A striking range of work on a hilltop northwest of town was created in 1993 by 12 international sculptors. They were responding to the limitless landscape, using some 52 tonnes of Wilcannia sandstone, borrowing the local miners' old tungsten carbide chisels to dent the tough rock, and camping in tents near their work.
The Sculpture Symposium took shape with names like Under the Jaguar Sun and Moon Goddess. The colours of the stone change constantly with the light. Bring water in summer, and consider visiting at dawn or sunset, to add another dimension to the romance of this wonderful place. The sculptures are signposted off to the right along Nine Mile Rd. Get the keys fo…
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Day Dream Mine
The first mines were walk-in, pick-and-shovel horrors. For an amazing experience, tour this historic mine where you squeeze down the steps with your helmet-light quivering on your head. Sturdy footwear is essential. It's a scenic 20-minute dirt drive off the Silverton road, 28km from Broken Hill.
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Miners Memorial
The huge silver skimp dump, which makes up Broken Hill's stark backdrop, also features the moving Miners Memorial. The memorial commemorates the deaths of over 800 men who have died in the mines since 1883. The list of the dead includes Dario Palumbo, an architecture student from the University of South Australia, who died suddenly during his work on the project, and whose story truly captures the emotions. The Broken Earth Café & Restaurant is attached.
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Pro Hart Gallery
Pro Hart, who died early in 2006, was a former miner and is Broken Hill's best-known artist. Aside from housing his work, the gallery holds a superb collection of Australian art (such as Brett Whiteley's Nude, Norman Lindsay's Selena and Albert Tucker's Australian Girl in Paris) and several works by international artists such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.
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Sturt National Park
Taking in vast stony plains, the towering red-sand hills of the great Strzelecki Desert and the unusual flat-topped mesas around Olive Downs, this park covers 325,329 hectares of classic outback terrain. Thanks to the protection of the dingo-proof fence, there are large populations of western grey and red kangaroos. This park has 300km of drivable tracks, camping areas and walks.
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Bourke's Historic Cemetery
Bourke’s Historic Cemetery is peppered with epitaphs saying ‘perished in the bush’, and tells a thousand stories about the many cultures and creeds buried here. Professor Fred Hollows, the eye surgeon who was determined to help restore the sight of people going needlessly blind, is buried here, after his decades of work in the region.
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Line of Lode Miners Memorial
Teetering atop the huge silver skimp dump is this moving memorial. It houses the impressively stark Cor-Ten steel memorial to the 900 miners who have died since Broken Hill first became a mining town. Inside the monument, a sobering series of plaques for each year itemise an appalling litany of gruesome deaths. The neighbouring Line of Lode Visitor Centre makes an excellent sunrise or sunset vantage point over Broken Hill, and the Broken Earth Café & Restaurant is next door.
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Railway, Mineral & Train Museum
There is more local history at the Railway, Mineral & Train Museum. The museum is in the Silverton Tramway Company's old station. The tramway was a private railway running between Cockburn (SA) and Broken Hill via Silverton until 1970.
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Silver City Mint & Art Centre
This is home to a chocolate factory and the Big Picture (admission $5), the largest continuous canvas in Australia, an amazing 100m-by-12m diorama of the Broken Hill outback.
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Royal Flying Doctor Service
This iconic Australian Institution exhibition includes the fascinating Mantle of Safety Museum, with lots of quirky stories and things to see. Tours run during the week, or visit the museum at any time.
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Delprat's Mine
There's an excellent underground tour at Delprat's Mine where you don miners gear and descend 130m in a cage for a two-hour tour of stopes and working equipment. Delprat's is signposted across the railway tracks.
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Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery
This must-see gallery is housed in the beautifully restored Sully's Emporium. It is the oldest regional gallery in NSW and holds 1500 works in its permanent collection. Tours on request.
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Thankakali Art Gallery
Thankakali Art Gallery is the Aboriginal cultural centre, located in an old brewery. It has an extensive gallery and a range of hand-painted arts, crafts and didgeridoos by local artists.
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Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre
The very worthwhile Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre follows the legends of the back country – both Indigenous and settler – through interactive installations and innovative visuals.
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GeoCentre
This is an interactive geology museum, with beautiful and rare minerals and crystals on display and lots of touch-and-feel exhibits. It's also home to a 42kg silver nugget.
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Bells Milk Bar & Museum
On the other side of the hill, the old commercial hub of Patton St is a slice of 1950s nostalgia. Sip on a 'soda spider' in a high-topped glass.
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Afghan Mosque
This simple corrugated-iron building was erected around 1891. Afghani cameleers helped open up the outback; the mosque was built on the site of a camel camp.
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Courthouse and Cop Station
Cobar is a bustling mining town with a productive copper mine. It’s littered with interesting buildings, including the old courthouse and cop station.
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Trades Hall
Trades Hall, built between 1898 and 1904, houses the Barrier Industrial Council. It features a pressed-iron ceiling over its elaborately detailed interior, restored in 1988.
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Courthouse
Many old buildings in town are reminders of Bourke's important past. Built in 1900, the Courthouse is topped by a crowned spire, signifying that it can hear maritime cases!
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Kinchega National Park
Kinchega National Park is close to Menindee, and the lakes here are a haven for bird life. There are three well-marked driving trails through the park.
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Cobar Museum
At the Great Cobar Heritage Centre, the Cobar Museum has sophisticated displays on the environment, local Aboriginal life and the early Europeans.
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Back O' Bourke Outback Living
Back O' Bourke Outback Living is a gem for local art and crafts and historical displays. There's a Crossley engine out the back, next to the wharf.
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Clyde Agriculture
Cotton is picked in March and April. From about May to August you can see the cotton gin in action by phoning Clyde Agriculture.
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Owl Barn
Owl Barn has hundreds of owls, local crafts and memorabilia on display in a quirky old pub with its roof burnt off.
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