Broken Hill Flat Silver Mine

Articles of association, 1888. Broken Hill Flat Silver Mining Company Ltd. Broken Hill Flat Silver Mining Company Ltd.

Broken Hill was named such by Charles Sturt on his Central Australian expedition of 1844-46. Pastoralists took up land in western New South Wales and from the mid 1870s boundary riders and prospectors began finding traces of silver. In 1875 two men digging a well found a rich lode and the rush was on with many claims established. The town of Silverton was established in 1880. The rich silver ores were quickly depleted but in the meantime the big lode on Broken Hill had been discovered by Charles Rasp in 1883. Broken Hill mining flourished. When the miners asked the New South Wales government to build a railway to connect them with the east, it refused. South Australia however agreed, but was only permitted to build its railway as far as the border of New South Wales. The Silverton Tramway Company built and operated a rail line to connect with the South Australian railway, which would link the mines with Port Pirie on Spencer Gulf, where smelters were established and the port facilities expanded to cope with the greatly increased traffic.

The many small mines eventually closed as the original company founded by Charles Rasp expanded, to eventually take over mining in the district and become known as 'The Big Australian'.

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