WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
1835: The first European, surveyor and explorer Major Thomas Mitchell, visits the area.
1700 million years ago: Thermal springs deposit silver, lead and zinc sulphides formed in mud from hot springs on the ocean floor. The Broken Hill ore body is born.
1850s:
30 million years ago: The Broken Hill ore body outcrops as the Barrier Ranges are uplifted and the ore body sits rusting for the next 30 million years. This fortunate coincidence of architecture and weathering turns the top of the hill into oxides containing silver, lead and zinc.
Pastoralists shear 50,000 sheep at Mt Wood Station (today Sturt National Park).
200 million years ago:
1844:
The Great Artesian Basin, a huge inland sea, laps into the Corner Country, with the Barrier Hill exposed further south.
Charles Sturt passes through the region in his quest to find an inland sea.
50,000 years ago: The Barrier Ranges are home to the Bulali, a subgroup of the Wiljakali people, who occupy the region from Broken Hill to the country beyond today’s border with SA. These hardy people hunt and forage in the Barrier Ranges, and are feared by the more peaceful Baarkindji of the Darling River.
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