Broken Hill and me, eight months on ...



It has been just over eight months since I started my new ‘journey’ with Broken Hill as the destination.  On 8^th December 2011 I wrote my first post about Broken Hill.  It was my first post about anything at all on the internet.

I read/scanned eight books about blogging “how to” etc…  One thing they stressed was that you must be pretty passionate about your subject.  So I thought, I want to start a blog so what will my topic be and obviously, you guessed it, it was to be about Broken Hill and what I love about it.



Radio Station 2BH

I have visited the city twice so far this year – 2012 - and have been to Broken Hill around 10 times or so altogether.  I have tried to write about positive news stories about this fascinating arty historic mining town/city (which hasn’t been hard to do).  An e-subscription to the newsy local paper “The Barrier Daily Truth” has helped me to keep up with what’s going on in town.  I have also pestered the staff at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery and the Visitor Information Centre.  They have all been very helpful.

Today is my 50^th post/article so I am being a bit self-indulgent in writing this piece which is a little more focused on me, but it still in essence is about Broken Hill.

My readers come from all over the world.  The greatest readership is based in the United States of America, followed by Australia, Israel, Brazil, Germany, Latvia, Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom, so it is quite diverse I’m pleased to say.

I have kept it non-commercial, i.e. I don’t earn money from it.  But I do earn self-satisfaction that I have kept it up.

A view of Broken Hill and moi

As I pass this mini eight month milestone, I thought I would ask if anyone has a particular topic they would like me to research about the city?  If you do, I would love to hear your suggestions (keep it nice please).

In future posts I plan to write some more about the various attractions around the city and a little bit more about mining than I have, especially since this is a significant part of the history of the city.  Artist profiles will also be a feature.

I will do a real estate report as well once I find an agent who is happy to contribute.  I met with one in January and discussed the possibility and they said they were interested in the idea.  I do hope so, as there are some really lovely properties to be found in this city and I think there is an interesting story to be told on that subject.  I might even buy a property at the “Hill” myself one day, I have certainly inspected quite a few very charming homes and even some pubs which were on the market as well.  One day ….??

I look forward to post number 51 which will be coming soon.

Cheers, Jane D

Broken Hill's new fine dining at the Royal Exchange Hotel and coffee experience at Gloria Jean's both now open June 2012

There are two new entertainment options in Broken Hill which have both opened in the first week or so of June.  They will be welcome additions to the city I am sure.

The Royal Exchange Hotel courtesy Ilmar V

The Royal Exchange Hotel has at last re-opened its beautiful and atmospheric restaurant to evening diners.  John Gavranich, who purchased the Hotel in November 2011 was quoted in the Barrier Daily Truth last Saturday 2 June 2012 as saying “I always wanted to do it but I wanted to get it right.”  John said “I’m offering the whole experience with both fine dining and entertainment.”

The talented chef Lee Cecchin will be in charge of the kitchen and pianist Clive Gregory will entertain the diners.  The restaurant will open at 6.30pm Tuesday to Saturday evenings.  You can book by phoning (08) 8087 2308.  I had a lovely cooked breakfast there in January this year and the room has a really lovely ambiance. 

The Broken Hill Visitor Information Centre has as last got its café back.  The Tourist and Travellers Centre café has been closed since May 2011.  Craig Willoughby and his wife, well known local artist Julie Hart have been working on the project for 12 months.  I met Craig in January this year and he told me of their plan to open the Gloria Jean’s ‘coffee house’ in the near future.  He explained it would be the first of Gloria Jean’s new redesigned coffee house experiences.  The café officially opened today although it has unofficially been open since last month.  The first unofficial day saw about 2,000 people come in for some refreshments.

The café’s hours are Monday to Saturday 7am to 6pm and Sunday 8am to 8pm.  It’s planned that the shop will eventually open until 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights.

I am really pleased that there is a café back at the visitor centre as it wasn’t a welcoming sight to have the empty café there especially for so long.

Cheers, Jane D

Let there be art – 2009 and 2012

Art Scene
Along with the significant mining history, Broken Hill has, over time, become a real mecca for artists and there are many galleries in the city.  On my last visit in 2009, I received a list of the Art Galleries and Craft Shops in the city and also at nearby Silverton, from the Broken Hill Visitor Information Centre.  Amazingly there were 30 galleries listed, which, in a city with a population of about 20,000 people, is a very high proportion of galleries per head.  Four of the galleries were in the very small nearby 'ghost' town of Silverton, about 25 Kms out of the city.

Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery

In 2012, that list is no longer available from the Visitor Information Centre, the 2009 version, (now since writing this post, the list has been updated to 2012) is available instead at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery.  The latest information regarding galleries can now be found on the Visitor Information Centre website.  I was interested to see that there are only 13 galleries listed on their website, so one of my projects on my upcoming visits to Broken Hill in 2012, will be to see what has happened to the galleries that are no longer listed.  Stay tuned for more posts soon. In the meantime, all the galleries are listed at the bottom of this blog/website. There is also a website www.artofbrokenhill.com which has all the galleries listed (see link here) and will be developed to be a more comprehensive directory over time.

As previously noted, I love real estate and Broken Hill has some wonderful properties.  I didn’t mention this earlier, but I love art also, so hunting around all the galleries during my next visit will be lots of fun and a highly recommended activity for anyone visiting the Hill.

Cheers, Jane D