More Broken Hill Exploration

So... it's been an interesting couple of days...

Since I ended up renting that blasted expensive car for two days, I figured I'd better make the most of it and spent yesterday driving all over the town. Even though I paid a ridiculous amount for the car, in the end I think it was (almost) worth it, as there were a number of sights I wanted to see that I wouldn't have been able to get to at all without wheels. I started off my exploration by driving all the way out to the airport to visit the Royal Flying Doctor base there. Whilst I'd had an introduction to the RFDS when I was up in Mount Isa (their original base was in Cloncurry, just a few hours from Mount Isa), I hadn't been able to see the planes. Here in Broken Hill, the tour included an excellent film about the history of the RFDS and a tour of the hangar where the planes are maintained. The planes are pretty cool. Once the RFDS purchases an aircraft, it undergoes a major refitting to turn it into a high tech mobile intensive care unit. The planes also have their underbodies strengthened and their wheels reinforced, which allows them to take off and land on short, dirt airstrips out in the bush. Pretty impressive!

Next I drove up to the top of the HUGE mullock pile that dominates the skyline in Broken Hill, to the Visitors Centre and Miners Memorial. Once again, I was sure glad I had the car! Whilst on the map it didn't look like all that far if I'd had to walk it, the drive to the top of this artificial hill was deceptively long and with no path for pedestrians. I would have been taking my life in my hands if I'd tried to walk up that thing with cars whizzing by. The view from the top was pretty good, though. I'd hoped to dine in the "Broken Earth" restaurant which is in the Visitors Centre at the top, but once I glanced at the menu it was clear that the place was waaaay out of my budget. :-) However, in the gift shop I found the PERFECT present for my Grandma. She'll have to wait 'till Christmas to get it though! Heehee...

The Miners Memorial was erected to honour all the men who have died in the mining operations at Broken Hill, since the mine was first opened in the mid 1800's. In total there are more than 800 names on the memorial, and beside each name is listed how old the miner was and the method of their death. It was pretty gruesome - deaths by asphyxiation, mechanical failure, by falling, by crushing, by silicosis, and many more. Like at the War Memorial in Canberra there were slots beside each name where loved ones could leave flowers, and there were silk roses placed beside many names. It was very touching - and a good reminder of how dangerous mining is - even in the modern day with all our safety precautions. One of the most recent deaths (from just a couple of years ago) was listed as caused by "remotely operated machinery".

I decided to take advantage of the car once more and did a big circular lap all around the outskirts of Broken Hill, to visit all the art galleries that are not an easy walk from the downtown core. So I spent the next couple of hours dipping in and out of various shops, some in actual storefronts, and many in converted houses set in residential streets. The variety of art available here is pretty good. I kept hoping I'd find an original piece that I could afford to bring home, but unfortunately no such luck. I ended up purchasing postcards from as many of the art galleries as I could, so I have a memento of the different artists I met here.

Probably by far the most famous of all of Broken Hill's artists is Pro Hart, who basically started the Broken Hill art movement. I really liked his gallery and his body of work. Of course, since he's so famous, there's no way I could afford even a print! Pro worked in the mines for 20 years and he brought his experiences of working underground into his work. I'm not trained enough in the terminology to really express what it is that I like about his work, but his art is colourful, engaging, and poignant - even to me. He also produced a number of sculptures, many of which are exhibited in a sculpture garden across from his gallery, as well as a hugely famous ant sculpture that stands in a park in downtown Broken Hill. I took photos of as many sculptures as I could, and when I get back to Melbourne in a couple of days, I'll post 'em so you can see them yourself.

My last stop for the day was the Living Desert, an area of desert parkland about 6kms outside of Broken Hill that has been turned into a cultural heritage walk. The first part of the trails through the Living Desert deal with the area's native fauna, with all sorts of different desert plants labeled. The second part of the walk encompasses a number of sites of Aboriginal significance. Unfortunately I arrived there too late in the day to see this part! The cultural walks are surrounded by predator (dingo?)-proof electric fencing, and the gates are locked at 4:30pm. Ah well!

The reason why I'd left the walks to the end of the afternoon was because what I really went out there to see was Broken Hill's famous Sculpture Symposium. Actually, the reason why I became intrigued with Broken Hill in the first place was because of a postcard of one of the sculptures that I found on the wall of my friend Nikki's house in Canberra! The Sculpture Symposium was a community project back in 1993, which aimed to bring together artists from all over the world to produce sculptures that would celebrate the Living Desert. The results are pretty darn spectacular! The 12 huge sandstone sculptures are situated on top of a hill with stunning views of the surrounding desert. Since I was approaching from the cultural walks, I had to hike about 1.5kms up the hill to get to the sculptures. (You can also access the sculptures by driving up a different road and parking right there, but I figured that since either way you had to pay $10 per car to get to see them, I might as well get some hiking in too.) The views as I puffed my way up the hill (regretting having left my knee braces back at the hostel, ha ha!) were fantastic.

I made it up to where the sculptures are about 45minutes before sunset, so I managed to snap some pretty cool photos of the sun lighting up the stones and silhouetting them from behind. The postcard views I'd seen of this site made me think that the sculptures were strung out in a line like ancient standing stones, but that's not actually the case. There was a winding path that took me through them. Of course I wasn't the only one there - and after a while I got a little tired of trying to stay out of other peoples' photos, so once I'd taken all the pictures I wanted to take, I headed back down the hill towards the car.

Partway down I found a bench that was facing the sunset, and there I stopped. I was far enough away from the crowd at the sculptures that I felt like I was on my own again, and still high enough on the hillside to get a pretty spectacular view over the desert. So that's how I spent my last evening in the Outback - sitting on a park bench, watching the sun go down, snapping a bazillion sunset photos (yes, Jen, you'd have gone mental on me, hee hee!), and just plain enjoying the quiet. Once the sun had dropped all the way below the horizon I walked the rest of the way back down to the car.

When I was driving out of the reserve, I went SLOOOOWLY (once again, there I was, driving at dusk, when the 'roos are out!)... and was rewarded by spotting several euros (a large, dark grey species of kangaroo) grazing by the roadside. And when I reached the main highway and headed back towards town... WOW! The moon was rising HUGE and full and golden, over the tops of the hills. Totally magical.

Today I checked out of the hostel, put my bags in storage, and have spent the rest of the day so far wandering through the downtown core, sticking my head into shops and yet more galleries, and basically bumming around. I'm ready to get on the train NOW, but of course it doesn't leave until 6pm tonight! Ah well. If needs be, I'll find myself a shady park bench, pull out my trusty book, and enjoy some more fresh air before I get bottled onto the train one last time.

I'll be at Ruth's house in Sydney tomorrow night, and then back in Melbourne on Thursday. I woke up this morning with the realization that I fly home in two weeks time. Yikes! I want to make the most of this last little bit of my Aussie adventures....