Big Trip 2024 - Day 17 (Broken Hill 1)

 A busy day was planned. I'm in Broken Hill for the next two days and have planned about four days worth of sight seeing.

I was going to dedicate this day to arts in Broken Hill. This town is probably renowned for being one of the artsiest towns outside of the main cities.

Pro Hart lived here (hands up who remembers the iconic Stainmaster Carpet Cleaning Ad from 1988? Too young? Then educate yourself by watching this.

Whilst Pro passed away in 2006, there is an art gallery featuring his works. This would be a good first stop.

Bugger.

It looked as though most of the other galleries would only be open after 10.

So I took the opportunity to visit the Line of Lode Miners Memorial which sits upon a mullock created from the mining waste. Online says it's 30 metres high. I think they're short by about half.

The Memorial sits next to a recently built cafe that has sepectacular view over the city. Sadly, it's not been occupied for a very long time. Anybody with the urge to start a new cafe business in a sprectacular location should contact Broken Hill Council.

The Memorial Site is for all the miners that were tragically killed by mining incidents from 1895 until now.  800 of them. That's a lot.

On the same site was another one of Australia's Big Things - the Big Park Bench.

This is two and a half times bigger than a normal park bench. It's a pity this photo doesn't show you that.

I then started visiting some art galleries. First stop was The Shed. Dirk Romeyn was the artist in residence and I spoke to him and his wife  for quite a while. Formerly of Katoomba, and then Adelaide, they moved to Broken Hill only a few years ago and this former carpenter now sells a variety of artwork. No photos were allowed, which I respected, however you can see the type of work he creates here.

They recommended that I visit Jarah Mosaics. Which I did. A house on a residential street with Mosaics created in windows and doors, the pavements and as stand alone pieces. I spoke with Julie for a while. She and her late husband moved to Broken Hill about 20ish years ago once they retired and started making mosaics for sale. Here is some of here work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 From there I drove to the art gallery of the late Jack Absolom. I think I found the right place:

The mood of this place was totally different to the first two galleries. Whilst it looked like a normal house from the outside, inside felt like a shrine to the man. The lady who took my entrance fee of $4.00 disappeared very quickly after I arrived.

Photos were allowed. Here are a couple of pictures of the gallery.

a self portrait of the great man himself

Probably my favourite piece

The exhibition include an opal exhibit, but I felt this was almost set up as a money grab. In fact, I think almost everything was for sale, including print copies on placemats and postcards as well as DVDs of some of his TV specials. I spent 15 minutes there and then moved on.

The city's art gallery is in the centre of town and is called (funnily enough) the Broken Hill City Art Gallery.

Like most arts galleries, there were pieces I liked, pieces that challenged me and pieces that bored me. Here were a couple of my favourites.

After lunch I spent some time back in the cabin, working and resting.

After 5, I decided to head for a walk. A long walk. To see the Living Desert Sculptures.

There was a sign leading to the main car park at the start of the walk, and a second sign that I didn't quite read (this will become important)

At the car park it indicated that the sculptures would be about 900m away. Up a hill. A steep hill.

Yay.

Here is a a picture near the top of that hill.

That's a long way down.

A very long way down

 After about an hour of strenuous walking (with many, many stops) I finally reached the top of the hill. The first thing I saw was a car park. A van was driving into it.

I DIDN'T HAVE TO WALK.

Well OK. What was there to see?

About a dozen sculptures, of vary degrees of impressiveness. Here are a few:

This was a massive project created in 1993 and 53 tonnes of sandstone was transported from Wilcannia for this project. Sculptors came from all parts of the world including Syria, Georgia, Mexico and the Tiwi Islands, as well as some closer to home. This project has become world famous. 

The trip back down to the car wasn't that difficult, and I enjoyed a long drink in the car. 

On the way out I read the sign I originally missed. It was for the alternate way of getting to the sculptures.

Bugger.

I probably shouldn't have done that walk (my cardiologist and Lesley would probably both agree) but I 'm glad I did it, though I am sure I will feel it tomorrow.

PIE REVIEW

Macs Oven Foods was my lunch destination today and my lunch was the Brisket and Jalapeno pie.

 It was the dearest pie I have had so far at $8.50, however I noticed that all their other pies were $6.50, so there may have been a good reason for the high  price.

Holy Cow! The brisket was juicy and tender and the jalapenos gave the right amount of heat against the brisket. The pie was one of the higher ones I've had, but didn't crumble when I took it out of the tin. It definitely had structural integrity.

This is either the best or second best pie I've had on this trip. I have only a few days to decide.

Podcast of the Day: TOFOP with Claire Tonti - Dancing Your Baby into Existence.

This subpodcast is under the Everyone Relax umbrella of podcasts with Wil Anderson and Charlie Clauson. Today's topic was Matrescence, which I though was a made up word until about 6 months ago. An informative listen.

Total km travelled: 4,427