About

ABOUT
ilovebrokenhill.com , was first published on 8 December 2011 by Jane Deany. My blog is all about the famous outback Australian National Heritage Listed City named Broken Hill, located in the state of New South Wales. I first visited #BrokenHill in 2002 and have returned many times since then. ilovebrokenhill.com will help you discover what's great about this historic mining city, where in the mid 1880's the line of lode, a rich ore body of silver, lead and zinc was found. You will find stories about anything related to Broken Hill.

Friday 30 March 2012

Jan Owen Poetry Workshop 31 March 2012 - Broken Hill City Library

Charles Rasp Memorial Library aka
Broken Hill City Library
courtesy Barrier Daily Truth
Further to my updated post of 28 March 2012 regarding visiting poet Jan Owen, please note I am reposting the workshop details now referred to in that post again here, as they were unavailable to me on the 28th and I would like to highlight and promote this event.

The details again are –

On Saturday 31st March 2012 there will be a free workshop for poets of all levels of experience.  The workshop at the Broken Hill City Library (sometimes known as the Charles Rasp Memorial Library) in Blende Street, will run between 10am and 4pm.

There will be a lunch break - byo lunch; free tea and coffee will be provided.

The workshop will cover such topics as –

·        the craft of writing poetry
·        techniques used by poets

Further enquiries and registrations can be made by contacting the library on
(08) 8080 3460, or in person at the library.

Sounds like a great opportunity if, amongst other things, you want to help unleash your creative side, commence writing poetry or simply polish up your existing skills.

Cheers, Jane D

Thursday 29 March 2012

Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery Exhibition "Kurnu Paakantyi Stories" by Badger Bates

Art Scene
Well known indigenous artist Badger (William Brian) Bates is currently exhibiting at the Broken  Hill  Regional  Art  Gallery.  The  exhibition  “Kurnu  Paakantyi  Stories”  will  run  from 10 March – 22 April 2012.

Badger was born in Wilcannia.  He is a carver, sculptor, printmaker and educator.  He has exhibited extensively in both Sydney and regional NSW.  His work can be found in the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW.  His work is influenced by his deep attachment to the Darling River (Paaka).  He works in emu egg and stone carving, linoprint, wood and metalwork and his art reflects the landforms, animals, plants, motifs and stories of Paakantji land.
Interior Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery
The Regional Art Gallery’s “blurb” about the exhibition is as follows -

Kurnu Paakantyi artist Badger Bates offers a selection of his recent linocut prints, and wood, metal and found object sculptures.  The exhibition focuses on his life as a child in the 1950’s travelling the ancient routes along the western rivers with his grandmother, the remarkable matriarch Granny Moysey. Badger’s art re-tells the stories and events from this period, informing us about the social context of the environment, humanizing the landscape and its plants and animals, and providing continuity between the creators, the ancestors and the present day occupants.  This exhibition is the culmination of a project funded by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, which involved Badger re-travelling the routes he took with Granny Moysey, and creating an oral and visual record of the Kurnu Paakantyi world.

Badger is a finalist in the 2011 NSW Indigenous Art Prize, and recent exhibitions include Menagerie (Objects Gallery & Australian Museum), In The Balance: Art for a Changing World (Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney), People of the First Sunrise, Indigenous Art from Eastern Australia (Glasshouse Regional Gallery). Water in a Dry Land (Albury Regional Gallery), Three Mining Territories, One Common Culture (Riotino, Spain), Packsaddle Exhibition (NERAM, Armidale).

I really enjoyed the exhibition.

Cheers, Jane D

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Jan Owen Poet in Residence in Broken Hill - March and April 2012 - Poetry Workshop 31 March

Adelaide (SA) born Jan Owen, a multi award winning writer, educator and poet will be a ‘Poet in Residence’ at the Charles Rasp Memorial Library aka Broken Hill City Library in Blende Street until 3rd April 2012.  She will spend two weeks running workshops and visiting schools demonstrating her special way with words.
She ran a Q and A session earlier this evening with the theme “Poetry In Community”.  If you were lucky enough to attend I would love to hear your thoughts about the event and what you learned.
On Saturday 31st March 2012 there will be a free workshop for poets of all levels of experience.  The workshop at the library will run between 10am and 4pm.  There will be a lunchbreak - byo lunch; free tea and coffee will be provided.

The workshop will cover such topics as -
  • the craft of writing poetry
  • techniques used by poets
Further enquiries and registrations can be made by contacting the library on (08) 8080 3460, or in person at the library.
Ms Owen’s visit has been sponsored through the BH Regional Writers Centre.
Cheers, Jane D

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Desert Knowledge Australia Art Event 28 March 2012

Art Scene
The Art of Business: Taking your art to the world” is an event being run by Desert Knowledge Australia Outback Business Networks.  It will be held at varying sites across Australia on Wednesday 28 March 2012.  In Broken Hill, the Regional Development Office at 55 Oxide Street will be one of the host sites.  The meeting will be a hook-up style with varying starting times depending on where you live in Australia – they are

WA: 1:00pm (AWST), NT: 2:30pm (ACST),
SA & Broken Hill: 3:30pm (ACDT),
QLD: 3pm (AEST), NSW: 4:00pm (AEDT)

The cross border meeting is free to attend for Outback Business Networks members.  There will be three presenters –

Tiffany Manuell, Happy House;  http://www.happyhouse.com.au/ ; who will speak about “Taking your art to the world: Building an art-based brand and the pros and cons of licensing”.

Ben Foley, Two Galahs;  http://www.twogalahs.com.au/ ; who will speak about “A survey of ways to build your presence online”.

Lindy Andren, Leaping Lizards Gallery and Studio; who will speak about “Effective retail relationships”.

For more information see the link here to the Desert Knowledge Australia's event page, or call 1800 603 866.

I think the event sounds most interesting, you may too.  If you can 'attend'/participate, I would love to hear your comments about it.

Cheers, Jane D

Monday 26 March 2012

Jenny Cattonar's Art accepted at Winton Queensland Art Show

Art Scene
I was delighted to meet well known Broken Hill artist Jenny Cattonar in January this year at her gallery in Argent Street.  So I was particularly pleased to read in the March 24 edition of the “Barrier Daily Truth” that a piece of her work – Alone With Space – has been accepted in the upcoming “The John Villiers Waltzing Matilda Outback Art Show" in the Queensland town of Winton.

Artist Jenny Cattonar with her entry “Alone With Space”
picture by  and courtesy of Gavin Schmidt of Barrier Daily Truth
The exhibition runs from 30 April to 22 June 2012 and is a national competition for paintings and three dimensional works, and is supported by The John Villiers Trust.  The official opening and award announcements are on Friday 4 May.
It sounds like a wonderful exhibition but unfortunately I don’t think I can get there.
I wish Jenny all the best in this competition.
Cheers, Jane D

Saturday 24 March 2012

The Loritz Circus visits Broken Hill in March 2012

The Loritz Circus is visiting Broken Hill.  The first of 10 performances of “Out of Africa” occurred on Friday night 23rd March 2012.  The venue for the circus is the Memorial Oval in Williams Street (Barrier Highway).  The opening show was a sell-out.  The “Barrier Daily Truth” reported on 24th March that all 500 tickets were sold.  The final shows are on Saturday 31st March 2012.
To book call 0439 CIRCUS (247 287) or visit the box office at the oval.
I’m only sorry I’ve already left the city.  I wish I could have stayed on to see the show as it sounds fabulous.
Cheers, Jane D

Sunday 18 March 2012

The St Patrick's Day Races at Broken Hill 17 March 2012

Races
March 17, 2012 dawned and it was off to the St Patrick’s day races in Broken Hill with my old friend Melissa.  The biggest event of the year in the city brought out a lot of green, but surprisingly, there weren’t many green dresses to be seen at the track.  No matter, Melissa and I proudly wore our green dresses and enjoyed a wonderful day.

I bet on races 3 to 7 (there were 8 races in all) and had several wins including three firsts, the 1,400 metre race 4 with #1 ‘Dealers’, trained by local trainer Michael Wayman, and ridden by Wayne Kerford, the 1,600 metre race 5 with # 1 ‘My Ex Mate’ trained by Peter F Blanch of Morphettville (SA), and ridden by Shayne Cahill and race 7, the outback stayers 2,200 metres race, won by #1 (again) ‘Young Tearaway’ trained by Nicole Bruggemann of Strathalbyn (SA) and ridden by Elly Brooks.  Number 8 Lotto Blues, trained by Kym Healy of Strathalbyn, won the 1,600 metre race 6 Outback Cup, the jockey was Tara O'Donnell.  I unfortunately didn't pick that one.

Melissa and myself at the
St Patrick's Race Club
I thoroughly recommend putting this on your list of things to do, especially if you like the races, but even if you don’t.  There was a real carnival atmosphere, so many people made a wonderful effort with what they wore.  The weather was sunny, mild and breezy, just as well as the event was cancelled last year due to rain.

As mentioned in an earlier post it’s the first time the event has actually been run on St Patrick’s Day - March 17.  Apparently the scheduling has always had something to do with Easter.  We had a quick refreshing coffee at the Broken Earth Café restaurant which not surprisingly was fully booked out for dinner.  It’s a great spot to take in the view across the city and hills in the distance.  I showed Melissa the moving Miners’ Memorial, which I’ll talk about another time.  It was then off to dinner at Café Alfresco where we watched the passing parade of race goers and enjoyed a lovely dinner.  We popped in to the atmospheric Broken Hill Musician's Club (Muso Club) for a look around, some refreshments and a dance, then called it a night.  What a great fun day it was.

Cheers Jane D

Thursday 8 March 2012

International Women's Day 2012 Art exhibition in Broken Hill by Gaara Arts - opens 9 March


La Femme au Naturelle by
and courtesy of Maureen Clark
Art Scene
Straight from the Media Release -
Gaara Arts is a group of women who also happen to be Broken Hill artists.  Since forming in 2008, they have become an independent, incorporated entity, producing prolific work.  Primarily, they respond to issues that face women in society by raising community awareness of these issues through exhibitions of their artworks at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery and other public venues. Biannually, an exhibition is timed to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.  In 2012, the theme of the International Women’s Day exhibition is “Plastic Lives – A Woman’s Tale”.

The 40 works of art on display, in a variety of media, reveal a wide interpretation of this theme.  Add to this, an innovative move into multimedia and the scope of interpretation is broadened even further.

Each painting has been thoughtfully assessed by a poet who has then written an ekphrastic poem which seeks to interpret and, sometimes, confront their subjects.  Local Broken Hill poets joined with metropolitan and interstate scribes to compose their works which will hang beside the paintings in the main gallery of the Regional Art Gallery in Argent Street.

One such poet is Sheryl Persson, an ekphrastic poet who transcribes visual art into poetry. Sheryl’s poetry group, DiVerse, performs regularly at the National Gallery and the Art Gallery of NSW.  She has written a collection of poems, Scarcely Random, and has had articles and stories published widely.  Sheryl will join other poets and the Gaara artists in at the Gallery for the opening of the “Plastic Lives” exhibition at 6.30pm on Friday, March 9.  The exhibition will run until April 22nd.

Betty Pearson is the President and Angela Fitzpatrick the Vice-President of Gaara for 2012, while established artists such as Jenny Cattonar, Deirdre Edwards and Wendy Martin act as mentors for other emerging painters.

The group is hoping to repeat the success of the opening of their previous exhibition, “One Barrow, One Shovel”, which attracted 200 people to the art and memorabilia show in December last year.

All I can add is that I wish I could be there on the opening night.  Luckily I will be back in Broken Hill at some point during the exhibition nonetheless, so I can’t wait to see it, it sounds quite fascinating.


Cheers, Jane D

Sunday 4 March 2012

Broken Hill Musician's Club - Gallery Bar


The Broken Hill Musician's Club
courtesy their website
Art Scene
A visit to the Broken Hill Musician's Club - Gallery Bar is well worth it as it has an excellent selection of artworks from many of the leading Broken Hill artists. The club is worth a visit regardless of the gallery as it has a great vibe and is uniquely Broken Hill. The artists represented are –

Pro Hart, Jack Absalom, John W Pickup, Eric Minchin, Hugh Schultz, Charles Edward (Hoppy) Hopgood, Howard William Steer, Fiona Gibson, Roxanne Minchin, Phil Jones, Trevor Jones, John Patrick Dynon, Pat Coffey, Bronwen Standley-Woodroffe, Clark Barrett, Albert Woodroffe, Peter Brown, Bernard John Jeffrey, Laurie Pace, Wendy Martin, Kym Hart and Darren McCrae who is the original concept developer of the Musician's Club (Muso Club) gallery.

Cheers, Jane D