Broken Hill is seriously unlike any outback city or town. Here’s how best to find its eccentric essence in one wild long, long weekend. 

The first time I drove into Broken Hill, years ago, after a languid, wondrous road trip from Sydney, a couple of surprises lightly smacked me across my sun-smooched cheeks.  

First was the city’s improbable scale, given it’s only about 50 clicks from the South Australian border and almost as far west as you can go in NSW, enveloped by bewitching, spinifex-spiked outback. 

The second dawned more gradually. ‘The Hill’ has an uncanny, vivacious and multifaceted personality – both the place and its people. It’s unlike any country town I’ve visited, including the small settlements I’d passed through on the drive from Sydney.   

BHP’s birthplace makes a rugged first impression. Its mining past and present rise up from the landscape, providing a protective corrugated-metal protective shell around its neat historic city centre, a rich amalgam of Federation, Victorian and Art Deco architecture (funded by the silver, lead and zinc mines). Locals are even more diverse than their town’s architectural mix and less swayed by the east coast’s rule-makers and box-tickers. Out here, you’re free to be yourself: eccentric, artistic and even urbane.  

For my fourth visit, I fly in from Sydney, rent a car and give myself a decent stretch of time to reacquaint myself with this character-filled place. Here’s what I’d do, with four days up my (rolled-up) sleeve in Broken Hill. 

Day 1: Get your bearings

Start at the Visitor Information Centre, where a Heritage Walk Tour is a laid-back, informative way to orient yourself in the gridded town centre. Street names such as Mercury and Cobalt prove just how interwoven mining is with the 143-year-old settlement and its economy. Drive up the waste-rock ‘mullock heap’ for an expansive vista and an insight into the industry’s brutal legacy at Line of Lode Miner’s Memorial, featuring the names of 800 workers who have perished on the job.  

Another famous BHP – the 140-year-old Broken Hill Pub – offers big-lunch staples, including a belly-challenging range of schnitties, as well as surprisingly multicultural options (I recommend the karaage wings). I treat Bells Milk Bar (circa 1892) in South Broken Hill as my de facto dessert bar; slowly slurping a full-fat, house syrup-flavoured shake (the Jaffa is excellent) in the 1950s-style interior, marvelling at vintage cartoon murals. Bells’ ‘roof alien’ is a regional icon.   

As the sun sinks, drive 20 minutes north to Living Desert State Park. Atop Sundown Hill, meander around the 12 sandstone sculptures, carved by Indigenous and international artists, which surreally glow as the fading gloam sets the red desert landscape of the Barrier Ranges alight. Watch for kangaroos on the return drive.    

Day 2: A far-out day trip and a night staring into the starry sky

Silverton is only a 25-kilometre drive north-west of Broken Hill, along the ‘Road with 39 Dips’, but this 50-person dirt-street town feels like it’s from another time. Explore its saltbush surroundings on a swaying, belching dromedary with Silverton Outback Camels. A visit to the property of Petah Devine (‘the camel lady’) is a highlight, with a ragtag mob of rescue animals – from emotional emus to gruff water buffaloes – parading around rusty scrap metal and vintage contraptions.  

Pretty much everyone stops for a pub lunch and chilled beverage at the region’s second-most famous pub, Silverton Hotel (number one will be revealed on day four). The town’s marvellously motley activity options include the Mad Max 2 Museum (a corrugated-metal shed full of cars, costumes and kitsch from the film, which was shot nearby), the quirky John Dynon Art Gallery and a tour of historic Daydream Mine (28 kilometres north-west of Broken Hill). And you must admire the shimmering outback infinity from Mundi Mundi Lookout, where scenes from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert were filmed.  

Speaking of infinity, head to Outback Astronomy (10 minutes north-east of Broken Hill) after dark, for one of its stargazing ‘sky shows’. Tuck into an Asteroid Scatter Platter, binoculars in one hand, wine in the other, as sky-guide Linda Nadge makes sense of out-of-this-world things with a laser pointer and telescope.  

Day 3: Cafe hopping, gallery crawling and premium bush tucker

The outback is officially no longer a coffee wasteland. My favourite cafe option is The Deli – for its joyful, bright vibe, Little Marionette coffees and elevated old-school Aussie cakes. The whimsical gift shop is worth a browse, too. On the main drag, Argent Street, The Silly Goat draws in upwardly mobile locals for very good Seven Miles coffee and well-executed brunch faves in a post-industrial space.  

After fuelling up on caffeine, it’s then time to set off on a choose-your-own-art-venture around The Hill’s charismatic galleries. Broken Hill City Art Gallery, based in an old general store, is my go-to, with a strong representation of Indigenous and bush artists. All tastes can be sated here, from bold outback-inspired impressionism and surrealism at Pro Hart Gallery to The Big Picture, an in-the-round, room-sized landscape at Silver City Mint & Art Centre (billed as the world’s largest acrylic painting on canvas by a single artist).  

If I could eat out just once in Broken Hill, I would do it twice at The Old Salt Bush. Tenacious restaurateur and chef Lee Cecchin’s bush-food fusion makes this one of NSW’s finest regional restaurants. The setting, inside a refined 1888 heritage-listed building, is calm and genteel. Dishes such as saltbush-dusted lamb rump and green-ant panna cotta tart consistently keep tastebuds challenged and delighted (be sure to book ahead).   

Day 4: A rock-art quest, then drag yourself to the ‘Priscilla pub’

Mutawintji is one of Australia’s most underrated national parks and is well worth the 130-kilometre journey from Broken Hill. The drive, along a lonely road heading towards opal-mining outpost White Cliffs, is a mind-clearing meditation. Book ahead for an Indigenous guide-led Mutawintji cultural tour, which explores rock art highlights of the 69,000-hectare ex-sheep station. The hand stencils and tens-of-thousands of years old petroglyphs are stupendous.    

There are plenty of pockets of personality still to be explored this afternoon. My pick? Check out the Mosque Museum, once a place of worship for the outback-pioneering Afghan cameleers (open by appointment). Snap a selfie outside the vintage radio-shaped 2BH building. Head to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Outback Heritage Experience at the airport to revel in the history and heroics of the airborne medicos.  

For a final-night soiree, I suggest a multi-venue beverage safari in the town. Sample Old Man Saltbush gin at Broken Hill Distillery. Sip a late-afternoon cocktail or wine on the archetypal verandah at Red Lush (part of The Astra hotel). Beeline for The Palace Hotel – aka the ‘Priscilla pub’, the region’s most famous watering hole, where iconic scenes from the movie were filmed – to gape at its old-school murals, including a ceiling-based replica of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. Then do what the locals do, whether it’s watching a drag show or belting out karaoke.    

NB: Plan a sleep-in tomorrow.   

Travel details

How to get to Broken Hill

Fly from Adelaide to Broken Hill with REX or direct from Sydney with QANTASLINK. By car, Broken Hill is about 1150 kilometres west of Sydney (13 hours) and about 517 kilometres north-east of Adelaide (5.5-6 hours). 

Where to stay

Broken Hill Outback Resort is a mix of open skies, value and in-room spas, 20 minutes from town.  

Tours to try

Check out the Outback Paranormal Tour, Indigenous-led Mutawintji Cultural Tour and Adam Edwards Photography Workshop.