360 km north east of Burra on the Barrier Highway. In winter you freeze here, in summer you boil. And it never rains. (The water has to be shipped in from Menindee Reservoir, 100 km away.) They even need a protective barrier of trees to keep out the dust storms.

But people didn’t come here for the climate, they came here to mine. Silver was discovered at Broken Hill in 1885 by a German boundary rider called Charles Rasp. What he discovered was something stupendous. Others mining in the area had missed what was probably the greatest silver, zinc and lead lode on earth. A major mining business has been running here for well over a century – long after the period when most other mining centres had turned into ghost towns.

But business didn’t always run smoothly in Broken Hill. To begin with, the profits were huge, but the working conditions were atrocious. This was a one-company town, and it soon also became a one-union town. Clashes became frequent and bitter. But after the miners won the Big Strike of 1919 (which lasted for 18 months) they achieved a revolutionary change in conditions – including a 35-hour week.

A great slag heap is the town’s dominant feature, and the grid-patterned streets are mostly named after minerals – such as Mica Street and Cobalt Street. Though local legend has it that Crystal and Beryl Streets are really named after a pair of red-headed Irish twins who worked in the saloons.

So why come here? For a start, the mines have to be seen to be believed. Some plunge over 1,500 m, and even need refrigeration plants (it can reach 60°C at that depth). Try the tour at Day Dream Mine (www.brokenhillaustralia.com.au/explore-and-discover/mining-attractions/historic-day-dream-mine) where you put on mining gear and descend in a cage, but that’s 33 km north-west of town, close to Silverton.

Broken Hill is in New South Wales, but everything mined here is shipped out via Port Pirie, on the coast in South Australia. As a result, Broken Hill considers itself more akin to South Australia, and even keeps South Australian time (which is half an hour later than New South Wales time).

Curiously, the other big feature in Broken Hill is art. There are galleries all over the place (largely filled with work by local artists), there are murals at The Palace Hotel, and out in the hills there are sculptures carved out of sandstone. For further details of this thriving art scene contact The Tourist Centre on the corner of Blende and Bromide (tourist@brokenhill.nsw.gov.au; +61 08 8080 3560).