Broken Hill, New South Wales

Broken Hill
New South Wales

Part of the town seen from the Line of Lode lookout

Broken Hill

Location in New South Wales, near the border of South Australia

Coordinates

31°57′24″S 141°28′04″E / 31.95667°S 141.46778°ECoordinates: 31°57′24″S 141°28′04″E / 31.95667°S 141.46778°E

Population

18,856 (2015)

Established

1883

Postcode(s)

2880

Elevation

315 m (1,033 ft)

Time zone

ACST (UTC+9:30)

• Summer (DST)

ACDT (UTC+10:30)

Location

1,160 km (721 mi) West of Sydney via
511 km (318 mi) North East of Adelaide via
266 km (165 mi) North of Wentworth via

Mean max temp	Mean min temp	Annual rainfall
24.2 °C ^{76 °F}	11.9 °C ^{53 °F}	241.8 mm ^{9.5 in}

Broken Hill is an isolated mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. The "BH" in the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, refers to "Broken Hill" and its early operations in the city.

Broken Hill is located near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is 315 m (1,033 ft) above sea level, with a hot desert climate, an average rainfall of 235 mm (9 in). The closest major city is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500 km (311 mi) to the southwest and linked via route A32.

Broken Hill has been referred to as "The Silver City", the "Oasis of the West", and the "Capital of the Outback". Although over 1,100 km (680 mi) west of Sydney and surrounded by semi-desert, the town has prominent park and garden displays and offers a number of attractions, such as the Living Desert Sculptures. The town has a high potential for solar power, given its extensive daylight hours of sunshine. The Broken Hill Solar Plant, which was completed in 2015, is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

Unlike the rest of New South Wales, Broken Hill (and the surrounding region) observes Australian Central Standard Time (UTC+9:30), the same time zone used in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is because at the time the Australian dominions adopted standard time, Broken Hill's only direct rail link was with Adelaide, not Sydney.

Broken Hill is Australia's longest-lived mining city. In 1844, the explorer Charles Sturt saw and named the Barrier Range, and at the time referred to a "Broken Hill" in his diary.Silver ore was later discovered on this broken hill in 1883 by a boundary rider named Charles Rasp. The "broken hill" that gave its name to Broken Hill actually comprised a number of hills that appeared to have a break in them. The broken hill no longer exists, having been mined away.

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Wikipedia