Day 5 - Broken Hill
- ilseluypaert
- Apr 10, 2023
- 2 min read
10 April 2023
Many Australians have never been to the outback nor heard of the national parks that we are visiting. But everyone knows ... Broken Hill, the pioneer town in the far west of New South Wales.
This little town is famous for its old silver mines, it is somewhere half way on the old train track connecting Sydney and Adelaide.
We arrive early afternoon after 4 hours driving, and take the chance visit this two places.
The Big Picture
It looks like we are outside but this is world's largest acrylic painting on canvas by a single artist – Peter Anderson, or Ando. It's a jaw-dropping 12 metres high and nearly 100 metres long, depicting the hash desert scenery around Broken Hill. Impressive!
The Royal Flying Doctor Service
Truly inspiring is our visit to the Royal Flying Doctors. An incredibly passionate woman gave us a private tour way beyond the museum`s closing time.
We learned about its history and could take a look inside the first medical air planes. We also saw an airplane taking off to provide urgent help!
Did you know ?
One third of the Australians live across rural and remote areas, often more than 8 hours driving from the closes township!
Back in the old days, seriously injured people had to travel hundreds of kilometres by horse, cart, or camel to reach a doctor. They often died before they got there.
Today Broken Hill`s base covers 640 000km2 and brings injured and severely ill people from their homes to this medical facility. From here people are often transferred to Adelaide or Dubbo for further help or operations.
The Royal Flying Doctor`s Services was found in 1928 by Reverend John Flynn
Thanks to the invention of a pedal-radio in 1929, people living in isolation were finally able to call on the Flying Doctor to assist them in an emergency. A body chart helped to explain exact location of pain and symptoms.
Opening of the School of the Air in 1951: Thanks to the two way radio service of the Flying Doctors, children living in remote areas finally got the opportunity to interact with other children and ask questions of their teacher. Yeeay ! Imaging growing up without any friends ? Must be so hard!
After a complete fill of our car with food supplies for the next couple of days, we leave Broken Hill around sunset and head for Silverton for the night.
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