HOW BROKEN HILL GREW

Evening Star, Issue 21638, 6 February 1934, Page 12

HOW BROKEN HILL GREW

A DINE THAT WAS A JOKE : 1 • . In 1884, on- his heart-breaking ‘journey of exploration ■' into ■' Central Australia, ' Charles Sturt passed over a range'‘of low i hills—hills :of ancient sedimentary -rocks bisected with granite and didfite and fitted with white ; quartz .rqcks,- .says the ‘Melbourne Age.* He named this -hump in tho desert, op which the; niain vegetation. Was. ’ mulga scrub, blue bush, ■ and"salt bush, ■ the Barrier Range. In 1867 these outcroppings of glistening stone were the scene of an unsuccessful gold rush. The burnished hills frowned down sternly and heartlessly on the luckless goldseekers, who, after suffering untold agonies, were driven back over the desert, mainly through lack of water. The age-old hills smiled grimly as they ‘ took back into themselves their secret cf , great mineral wealth. They were to hold that secret undisturbed, except by drovers and shepherds, until 1885. Three years before that year (eventful in the’mining history of Australia, because it marked the ‘ formation of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company) rich silver lodes were discovered in the Ehackaringa and Umberumberka districts, and there rose up from the desert the busv, boisterous down .of Silvertori — . a town that was to grow in a night; for a few years to house thousands of miners, adventurers, and speculators, and then, again, in a night sink back into the desert. These lodes were immensely rich, in some cases the chlorides assaying as high as 18,000 oz to the' ton. They were shallow, narrow lodes for ; the most part, and their ' life was short. Twenty miles away to the east gloomed the black, burnished Broken , Hill, • the. Bazorback —the Hill of Mullock of the Silverton ’miners. A dozen miles or so from this hill of mullock the homestead of Mount Gipps t Station was established in 1866. The station was owned by Messrs M'Cullock, Sellers, and Co., the principal of the firm being Sir James M'Culloch, a Premier of Victoria. In 1871 M'Culloch placed in charge of the station a nephew, George . M'Culloch. The Mount Gipps run covered , 1,400 square miles. In its centre was the Eazorback—the Broken Hill. What now is . the city of Broken Hill was enclosed in a 50,000-acre paddock. To this vast, sheep station came a. few -years later a young boundary rider, who, because of his faith ‘ in a miners’ guide book, was to take' a step that eventually uncovered the secret cf the Broken Hill. His .name was Charles Rasp, and as-he rode his boundary fences • the black, burnished- ridge was never out . ’ of his mind or his sight. With him always , was a well-thumbed Prospectors’ Guide. On a hot September morning—it was i the _ sth 1 —young Rasp, climbed the scrubby ridge and, reaching the summit, decided, after again consulting the guide, that it was a mass of tin—black oxide of tin. There could be no doubt of it; before his eyes grew actually the description that the guide contained. At the Nine Mile was a man who had done a little mining in Cornish tin mines. To the Nine Mile Rasp rode, and there .he ...told his story to the dam-sinkers David James and James Poole. They laughed at him. The hill ol mullock a mass of tin—it was too ridiculous! To convince them Rasp took the damsinkers to the Broken Hill. That (and Rasp’s great enthusiasm) convinced them utterly. The three men pegged out forty acres. This area became the first lease on Broken Hill—Block 12. SYNDICATE FORMED. That action on that hot September day fifty years ago marked the beginning if the history of Broken Hill. Rasp realised, however, that its history might be a short one. The lease was pegged all right; there was no doubt about his faitli in bis dream and in his Prospectors’ Guide. .But the next thing was to tell “ the boss,” and George M'Culloch was a big, fiery man who had let it be known that he would break the neck of any man who pegged a mineral lease on the Broken Hill, thus interfering with the meagre pasture of the Mount Gipps Station. Rasp therefore decided to “ draw his cheque ” and say nothing about the syndicate until the lease was registered. M'Culloch, though, guessed his secret, and after scoffing at the -idea decided that if the lease were pegged it would be a sure way of keeping prospectors away from the hill. Thus out of the self-preservation of a needy sheep raiser grew the first mining syndicate of Broken Hill. That night ,in the Mount Gipps homestead Rasp again told his story and explained his dream—and quoted from his little book. And at the end, was formed the syndicate.of seven. Its members were Charles Rasp, boundary rider; George M'Culloch, station manager; George Urquhart, sheep overseer; George Lind, storekeeper and bookkeeper; Philip Carley, station hand; David James, contractor and bullock team owner; and James Poole, contractor. At dawn on the following morning Rasp and M'Culloch pegged out the whole of the hill. The next day applications for the blocks were lodged with the acting warden at Silverton. It was the joke of the season. M'Cuiloch sat back happily, most of the mem-

hers of the syndicate (each held two shuns in the venture) were indifferent. Only Rasp pottered about the hill, took samples and dug _ holes. The first sample, assayed in Adelaide, revealed no tin and only a few traces of silver. One day he drove his pick into a mass of rotting material. Assay proved it to bo high-percentage lead. A shaft was put down, but with little success. The syndicate of seven was never registered. Lind anti Urquhart sold their shares. A young Englishman named Cox was keen on getting a share, and offered M'Culloch £l2O for it. The Scot wanted £2OO. Compromise was impossible, and eventually Cox challenged M'Culloch to b rubber of - euchre, the winner to get the share at his price. Cox won. In six years’ time the full market value of that share was £1,250,000. Actually M'Culloch did not lose on the deal; before that historic night was over he had bought a share from one of the station hands for £9, thus clearing £3O on the deal. Poole and James sold a share for a team of bullocks. That share was purchased by the late Mr Bowes Kelly, then managing a station near Wilcannia. In 1884 the Broken Hill Mining Company was formed, with fourteen members. William Jamieson, a surveyor, was a member of that company, and he became its chief inspiration and driving force. Early in the following year the chlorides of silver were discovered, the first assays going about 800 oz to the ton. It was the resurrection of the fortunes, of the company, which was languishing. On June 20, 1885, the first prospectus of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company was issued with a capital rf £320,000, and on August 10 the company was floated. Jn 1886 John Provis, a mining engineer, concluded a report on the field with the statement that the mine “ is destined to rank among the foremost of the leading silver mines in the world.” The prophecy has been fulfilled.