Through the Eye of Ella’s Needle

Around 120 years ago, this small handkerchief was hemmed and embroidered by a young girl from Ulladulla on the NSW south coast – Ella Mellshimer (1886-1979). Its decorative marks are simple and include the word ‘Jerusalem’, along with a single-humped camel. These symbols reflect that Ella was raised according to the Christian faith, which she […]

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The Green Industrialist

Nephew of the first Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, Edmund Barton, William Sydney Robinson (1876-1963) was an industrialist, journalist and diplomat. Robinson was also a philanthropist at heart and made several donations of art from his personal collection as well as on behalf of the Zinc Corporation to the town’s art gallery. Among them were […]

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Ghantown Cameleers

Pastoralist Sir Thomas Elder was the first to import camels to Australia for breeding in the 1860s. By the time of the boom in 1888, cameleers and their camel trains were a familiar sight in and around Broken Hill. Known collectively as ‘Afghans,’ the cameleers were mainly from Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. Cameleers were essential […]

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