As the house lights dimmed, the boisterous chatter of the capacity crowd that packed the Maitland Town Hall on 6 August 1929, reduced to a hush. It was the opening night of the Maitland Musical and Operatic Society production of Going Up, and young Una Heslop, a member of the chorus, was waiting in the […]
Measuring a little over one metre tall this photographic portrait is of Charles Rasp (1846-1907), the man credited with finding silver at Broken Hill and establishing the now British-owned mining company BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Company) in 1885. For decades the settler population at Broken Hill has celebrated Rasp as the city’s ‘founding father’, including […]
Herbie Watkins heard rumblings below ground that made him run for his life. It was 5.15 am on 7 December 1910 and he was alone on site maintaining the temporarily closed West Wallsend-Killingworth Colliery. Luckily, Watkins was at a safe distance when the catastrophic explosion punctured the early morning silence, waking residents of the surrounding […]
Aboriginal Police Tracker ‘Tommy’ worked in Broken Hill from the late 1890s-1910. His employment and skill as a tracker was renowned and widely reported in the press. Tommy’s police work also saw him employed at the Silverton Police Station, along with other Aboriginal trackers. Moreover, his time at Broken Hill coincided with a craze for […]
Although James Wooler (1872-1944) resided in Broken Hill for only a few years his photographs transformed how the world saw its people. His work for The Barrier Miner put the newspaper at the cutting edge of mass media, surpassing The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald’s ability to illustrate articles. His photographic legacy is a […]
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