It was a bit of a wrench to tear ourselves away from glorious Menindee Lakes but the next planned stop was somewhere I had wanted to see since primary school - Broken Hill, home to The Flying Doctors and The School of the Air.
Broken Hill is a long way from anywhere in far west New South Wales. It is very close to the border with South Australia, so close in fact that it operates on South Australia time and is half an hour behind the rest of NSW.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon to find the place pretty much shut as we might have expected an Australian city to be in 1982 but it came as a bit of a surprise in 2017 so we went off in search of a caravan park. There were two in the city (Broken Hill is officially a city but really is the size of a smallish town by UK standards) and we chose the friendlier of the two, Lake View. It should really have been called scrapyard view but it was ok if we didn't look in that direction.
Broken Hill came to be because silver was found in the area and miners headed there to make their fortune. It is known as Silver Town and the roads were all named after minerals, Bromide, Sulphide, Kaolin, Beryl etc. and, because it is so far from anywhere, houses were originally built from any materials that were available and some of them are still standing.It is also home to the Big Ant and the Big Bench, there are a lot of ants there but I failed to grasp the connection with the bench.
There was a huge mine at the back of the town with massive heaps of tailings piled up behind the buildings, as someone who remembers the Aberfan disaster, I found this a bit alarming but I am sure with present day health and safety regulations it must have been safer than it looked. We drove up to the mine visitors centre (shut) and had a look at the miners' memorial which was a splendid structure made of rusty metal with the names of all those killed while working in the mine and the manner of their deaths. Looking at the sheer numbers and bizarre ways in which they perished certainly reminded us what a tough life this was. In the early 20th century, if a miner was killed a siren would sound and a black flag was raised for the people of the town to see, so all the families of the miners must have been worried sick it might be their loved one until news filtered down naming the victim!
After all this deep thought we fancied a drink so went to Mario's Palace Hotel, featured in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. A previous owner, Mario, painted the whole of the interior with friezes based on old masters and the pub is now the hub for the Broken Heel Drag Festival. The pub hosts drag bingo once a month and there were a couple of people in drag having a drink while we were there. Of all the things I had thought went on in the outback, going for a beer in drag wasn't one of them. The pub was fabulous, apart from the friezes, the place was dripping with glitter balls and there were sparkly shoes and tinsel curtains everywhere.
Next stop was The Royal Flying Doctor Service. The visitor centre was excellent and we were taken on a tour by a very knowledgeable guide who was surprised we were familiar with their work in the UK. My vision of the Flying Doctors was all about them landing on remote properties to rescue injured farmers or deliver babies but, although they do that, the main part of their work is providing clinics to remote towns. The plane loads up with a couple of doctors, nurses, a dentist, an alcohol and drugs counsellor and family planning advisor and they set up for the day in a pub or church hall. All remote towns and farms have a medical box with the contents numbered for emergencies so they can phone the Flying Doctor centre and be talked through administering treatment until the doctor can get there.
The last visit in Broken Hill was to see the School of the Air.
This can be seen in action but must be booked in advance, which we had not done, it was enough for me just to see where it took place though. I was fascinated by the idea of the School of the Air when I was a child and thought it would be wonderful to sit in my pyjamas eating crisps during my lessons safe in the knowledge that the teacher would not know.
There was a huge mine at the back of the town with massive heaps of tailings piled up behind the buildings, as someone who remembers the Aberfan disaster, I found this a bit alarming but I am sure with present day health and safety regulations it must have been safer than it looked. We drove up to the mine visitors centre (shut) and had a look at the miners' memorial which was a splendid structure made of rusty metal with the names of all those killed while working in the mine and the manner of their deaths. Looking at the sheer numbers and bizarre ways in which they perished certainly reminded us what a tough life this was. In the early 20th century, if a miner was killed a siren would sound and a black flag was raised for the people of the town to see, so all the families of the miners must have been worried sick it might be their loved one until news filtered down naming the victim!
After all this deep thought we fancied a drink so went to Mario's Palace Hotel, featured in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. A previous owner, Mario, painted the whole of the interior with friezes based on old masters and the pub is now the hub for the Broken Heel Drag Festival. The pub hosts drag bingo once a month and there were a couple of people in drag having a drink while we were there. Of all the things I had thought went on in the outback, going for a beer in drag wasn't one of them. The pub was fabulous, apart from the friezes, the place was dripping with glitter balls and there were sparkly shoes and tinsel curtains everywhere. 
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