Broken Hill day 1 & 2

Day 1

We went to the Family History Centre today and lucky enough to meet Sandra Hillock, she is one of the volunteers there and an absolute fountain of knowledge. It turns out that we may be related from way back in Cornwell via the family of our own John Rickard.. I was overwhelmed with the amount of info.

Sandra Hillock

Unfortunately there were no house numbers recoded before 1919 so where William and Hannah Caple lived in Ryan Street will remain a mystery.
Great Uncle Arthur Caple (senior) died 1923 at 103 Hebbard Street, we went there and have this photo of his house. It looks uninhabited and needs lots of TLC.
He worked at the Central Mine for the Sulphide Group.

103 Hebbard Street Broken Hill

We also went to the cemetery today and were very disappointed. We tried to follow the map and found all the Methodist sections and tried to check every grave, we did not find any of the Caple family we know are buried there. Both row numbers and grave numbers were not clear.

Oh my goodness, it was so sad, there are so many neglected, unmarked and unloved graves there, it really broke my heart. We left after about 2 hours feeling exhausted and dejected. We do know that they are there though and we were there remembering them so we may have to be content with that for now.

We have decided to phone the cemetery trust on Monday to see if they can help in any way.

Day 2

We did a part of the Broken Hill Silver Trail today and it was fascinating learning of the old and newer history of the city. The tour was supposed to take about 3 hours, we are only about a third of the way through it so far, seems we took far too long exploring each place and loving every minute of it.

The Miners memorial from the main street

A remnant of the halcyon days of BHP 

Black slag heap and the mullock heap at the Line of Lode

The Delport mining shaft

Memorial to the Mullockers

Miners memorial

How would it feel going 500metres into the earth
in one of these?

The day was perfect, sunny and warm, we sat in the city square having lunch watching the last of the Saturday morning shoppers leave the precinct. After wandering around for the rest of the afternoon we returned to the caravan park in time to chat with neighbours before dinner.

 

Mum Dad and the kid

 

 

Broken Hill from Joe Keenan Lookout looking toward the
 Miners Memorial
 

Methodist Church 1911
Made from corrugated iron and wood

 

 

Oh and I discovered the lake, (Lake View Caravan Park) if you look very carefully into the distance and the light is right a very small lake can be seen!

The Lake