Saturday 30^th June

Some days we take our time getting started and today was one of these. The wind was very chilly and the warmth of the van made it difficult to venture outside, however we knew that after a good walk we would both get blood circulating and energy restored. There were two walks within Broken Hill which seemed interesting.  One was the cemetery walk, and the other had an appealing title “ Heroes, Larrikins and Visionaries of Broken Hill”. This walk was about  1.7 kilometres and began at the Railway Station to Billygoat Hill. We strolled through some of the city's most diverse and interesting areas, soaking up the history, culture and notoriety that gave the Silver City its unique character. All these people were remembered upon prominent explanation boards on the footpath. Along the way was Broken Hill’s first lady blacksmith, the world's tiniest mine worker, world famous singers, writers, poets, artists, actors, gamblers, cheats, heroes and battlers, from Chips Rafferty to June Bronhill, Shorty O'Neill to Dame Mary Gilmore. We found the one about Jabez Wright amusing and relevant as we were staying in Jabez Street.

We had been told the cemetery was one of the largest in any NSW regional centre, and we would have to agree that it was really spread out.  A comprehensive guide published by the City Council gave us a map, a description of interesting people buried in the cemetery and was very easy to follow.  I will digress here a little, as this detailed map shows that the council is capable of producing clear instructions, it is a pity it is not duplicated around town to help hapless travelers find street names – they are very sadly lacking.

Anyway back to the walk amongst the dearly departed.  We noticed how chicken wire moulded in an igloo fashion was used over many of the older graves.  It seems it was placed there to keep rodents away.  We did notice a few graves which had seriously subsided and as they were in the older section we summised that there were probably no living relatives to repair or take an interest in their upkeep. There was a Muslim section where all the headstones faced Mecca, and a very large headstone on Pro Hart’s grave.  This was as close to one of Broken Hill’s famous painters as we ventured.  Time ran out for us to visit any galleries – it will be on our list for next time.

We met the couple Greg and Liz from the Lake Mungo tour at the Democratic Club for dinner and had a most enjoyable evening – the dining room was doing a roaring trade and the food was hot and brought to our table promptly.

Farewell to Broken Hill as we leave for South Australia in the morning.