TitleBroken Hill ore trainDate takenca. 1951Description
Narrow gauge ore train from Broken Hill arriving at Port Pirie.
Charles Rasp's discovery of silver ore at Broken Hill in 1883 eclipsed many smaller finds found in the region from 1875 and led to the formation of BHP. When the New South Wales government refused to build a railway to Broken Hill to bring supplies in and take the ore out, the South Australian government obliged: for a short time there were arguments over which port should be used, but by a narrow vote in Parliament, the die was cast for Port Pirie. The railway line to the New South Wales border was laid by June 1887; this connected with the private Silverton Tramway Company. With the railway line open everything for and from Broken Hill went through Port Pirie - timber for the mines, coal and mining gear and outwards the ore and processed minerals. Smelters were built at Port Pirie and the face of the town changed rapidly - it became an industrial town as well as a port.
In 1889 11,000 tons of coke was sent in six months from Port Pirie to Broken Hill; 4 million superfeet of timber was handled; 11,244 tons of silver-lead bullion was despatched and BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd) paid 69,000 pounds for railway cartage and labour.
