Broken Hill

Broken Hill (31°57′S 141°27′E) is an isolated mining city and Local Government Area in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia, with a population of 21,000. It is located near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (#32) and the Silver City Highway, in the Barrier Ranges. It is 220 metres above sea level and has a average rainfall of 235 mm and summer temperatures that hit well over 40° C. The closest major city is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500 km to the southwest. Unlike the rest of New South Wales, Broken Hill (and the surrounding region) runs on Australian Central Standard Time, UTC+9:30, a time zone it shares with South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Broken Hill has been called the 'Oasis of the West, 'Silver City' and the 'Capital of the Outback.' Although over 1100 km west of Sydney and surrounded by semi-desert the town still manages colourful park and garden displays to surprise the unsuspecting visitor.

Named after the broken hill on which silver ore was first discovered in 1883 by a boundary rider named Charles Rasp, Broken Hill is Australia's longest-lived mining city. Its massive orebody, formed about 1800 million years ago, has proved to be the world's largest silver-lead-zinc mineral deposit. The orebody is shaped like a boomerang plunging into the earth at its ends and outcropping in the centre. The protruding tip of the orebody stood out as a jagged rocky ridge amongst undulating plain country on either side. This was known as the broken hill by early pastoralists. There has been a significant decline in the mining industry over recent years.