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Broken Hill’s Heavy Metal band Firestorm have recently returned to Broken Hill after touring Australia and New Zealand with Canadian band Unleash the Archers.
I sat down with the four band members to chat about the tour, the history of heavy metal in Broken Hill and a new upcoming heavy metal music festival which will be held in Silverton in early October.
Listen to the 25-minute interview on my podcast or read the web story available on www.ahomeintheoutback.com
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One of the stall holders at Agfair 2024 was Jaddan Bruhn who was selling Broken Hill and Silverton greeting cards and gifts using his original photography and artwork and archival images. Jaddan says his works are inspired by the landscape, buildings, textures and people of Broken Hill, in particular the unique building material and finishes in use around the town throughout its history. He likes to explore the idea of time, layering, heritage and reminiscence. Jaddan was born in South Broken Hill and comes from the great Attard family – his great-randfatherEmanual Attard moved to Broken Hill in 1918 and worked at Central Mine. Jaddan lives in Sydney but regularly travels back to Broken Hill. I sat down with Jaddan to ask about his family history and his work as a photographer and artist.
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Butcher Girl Alison Meagher was a special guest at Agfair 2024 providing four demonstrates over the two days on how to use the whole beast in butchery. On Saturday morning I attended the demonstration and up on stage with Alison was local school student Annabelle Smith from Scarsdale Station. I caught up with Annabelle afterwards to ask about her interest in butchery.
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Agfair 2024 saw the launch of the book Pubs, Publicans and People of Broken Hill and the far west by local writer Emily McInerney. I caught up with Emily at the Broken Hill Book Company Stall to talk to her about the book. All books brought to Broken Hill were sold and more are on the way to Broken Hill soon
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There’s a real buzz in Broken Hill at the moment with the biennial Agfair Show which is held at the race course. There’s stalls showcasing farming and agriculture equipment, clothing, art and crafts as well as entertainment and cooking demonstrations. I went along for the good old country catch up and met Lucy Gale, from Pincally Station north of Broken Hill, who was run off selling her hand made ceramic wares, Little L's Australia. I caught up with the 20 year old to ask her about her creative business.
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On Thursday 2 May, Katherine Waite facilitated a discussion at Petrichor Bar in Broken Hill with podcast guests Lori Emment, Heather Pearce and Ben Clavel in front of a live audience.
As you can imagine, live events always have the special quality of the unexpected and sometimes the audio doesn't capture the magic of the event quite like attending in person.
*During the event, I asked a question in reference to the International Women's Breakfast happening at Palace. It actually happened at The Astra. The error was completely mine.
Thanks to Petrichor and Aimee Volkofsky.
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Meet Robert Williamson, the A-grouper who trained as an apprentice in Broken Hill and worked his way up to be a mining executive.
Robert is the oldest of four boys but when his mother died from breast cancer, he decided to stay in Broken Hill and help his father.
He got himself a trade at Zinc Mine and was offered training in industrial electronics which became an in-demand skill.
As a young man he travelled and worked at Bougainville Copper and overseas at a Kibbutz. When he returned he moved to the Western Australian region of Pilbara and was there maintaining dump trucks and mining equipment at iron ore mines.
When he was working at Dampier mine, he introduced a robotic systems to the way Rio Tinto managed their port system which earned him praise and accolades from the mining sector.
He was head hunted to develop and establish robotic systems all over the world, including iron ore ports in China. He went into mining consulting and among his achievements was selling US$10million dollars of technology to the large Brazilian company Vale.
More recently, Robert’s attention has returned full circle back to Broken Hill which he says is completely coincidental. With his business partner Gordon Toll, he’s currently in the process of applying for mining licenses for Lodestone Mines to develop Australia’s next big iron ore project in the Braemar Region in South Australia. The proposed mine site is just over 1.5 hours south west of Broken Hill, inland from the small South Australian town of Olary.
Robert is based in Adelaide but travels regularly to Broken Hill for business.
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Meet Lori Emment, a local Broken Hill person who spent a lot of her life not being about to remember people’s faces.
Lori spent a lot of her life being told that she was dumb, lazy and self-centred and she believed it. She could see people’s faces but never remember them.
As a child, she would focus really hard on what her parents were wearing any particular day to identify them at the shops. She never questioned she was different to other people.
As an adult, Lori discovered she had prosopagnosia after her mum watched a documentary on it. Finally Lori had a name for something she has struggled with her whole life.
Lori currently works at Willy Nilly Art helping artist Amanda Johnson behind the scene. Lori is a wonderful story teller and impersonator and this weekend she’ll be performing in the local production of Steel Magnolias at Theatre 44.
* We have deliberately chosen to blur Lori’s face so you have a glimpse of what it means to live with face blindness or prosopagnosia.
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW. I also produce private life stories for family history. Please get in touch if that service interests you.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Airlie is the daughter of a local GP in Broken Hill. Her dad trained to be a doctor as a parent and so Airlie and her siblings moved around a lot as children.
The family moved back to Broken Hill when Airlie was in Grade 7 and she has remained here since.
Unfortunately, Airlie was bullied in high school in Broken Hill and eventually dropped out altogether. However, she has a strong work ethic and remained positive and looked for opportunities to be engaged in the community and to be creative.
She has made a themed wedding dress, built her own bed, altered her own clothes, acted in films and live shows, been a tennis coach and worked at Bells’ milk bar.
Airlie is renovating a house in town with her partner and wants to create a beautiful garden. She is currently studying primary education at university.
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW. I also produce private life stories for family history. Please get in touch if that service interests you.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet David Doyle, Barkandji/Malyangapa man who is a health worker, artist, writer and entrepreneur.
He is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback, an independent podcast about people living, working and creating in the far west of NSW.
David was born in Broken Hill but his family is from the Menindee region of the Baaka or Darling River.
For the last 20 years he’s worked as an Aboriginal health worker – particularly in chronic disease – and is currently employed by the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
He started woodworking to help with depression and is an emerging artist. In 2023 he won the Maari Ma art prize for his piece, Values.
He also is a knowledge holder of Barkindji bush medicines and edible plants. He’s currently working on a plant catalogue of Kinchega National Park and hopes one day they’ll be a database on plants including its nutritional and medical breakdown.
David has some works in the upcoming ngaratya exhibition at the Broken Hill City Art Gallery from 4 May to 28 July 2024. ngaratya (together, us group, all in it together) is a love letter expressing the connection between Barkandji people and their Country.
David’s tourist business is called Wontanella.
For more information about David see his personal website
You can also support the work of the RFDS by making a donation or coming along to the The Royal Flying Doctor ball on Saturday 4 May 2024 at the Gary Radford Pavilion.
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW. I also produce private life stories for family history. Please get in touch if that service interests you.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet Ann Evers a basket weaver and arid gardener who has lived in Broken Hill for 50 years.
She is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback, an independent podcast about people living, working and creating in the far west of NSW.
Anne was born in Perth to English parents; her father was a geneticist and her mother was a biologist and artist.
Growing up the family moved overseas a lot to follow her father’s career.
Ann went to university in Canberra and met and married a Broken Hill boy called Bob.
They moved to Broken Hill to care for Bob’s mother who fell ill and Ann fell in love with the desert place immediately.
They inherited the stone hut that Bob grew up in which has a connection to the Picinic Train Attack in 1915.
Ann learned to weave baskets from Australia’s pre-eminent basket weaver Virginia Kaiser.
Ann’s art reflects on her connections to the land, its post-colonial stories and Afghan history. She hopes her art encourages locals to value Broken Hill and the far west.
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW. I also produce private life stories for family history.Please get in touch if that service interests you.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet Hugh Lord, a 5th generation farmer at Thackaringa Station, a property 40 km south-west of Broken Hill. He is also a commercial pilot and runs H & A air with his GP wife Dr Aliza Lord. He is honest, hard-working, humourous and grounded.
Hugh and his father, David Lord, are the farmers on theStation although Hugh will say ‘farming is not as unique as you imagine.’
They run both sheep and cattle but Hugh says he’ll onlyshear sheep if ‘his life depended on it’ and if ‘someone died’.
Hugh says his family has been on the property since 1876,well before Broken Hill was established.
Hugh started to learn to fly after he worked for a companywho used planes to muster. He started on light aircraft but says he caught the bug of flying and pursued it till he could fly Cessna 172’s and fly commercially. He also has a helicopter license.
Hugh share’s his perspective on climate change, the relationship between mining and farming, the future of farming, mental health of farmers and succession planning.
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.
Musicby Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust
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Meet Heather Pearce, the CEO of Thrive Medical and an Occupational Therapist. She is a visionary and problem-solver who works with others to achieve outcomes for regional people.
She is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback, an independent podcast about people living, working and creating in the far west of NSW.
Heather was born in the small town of Cleve on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia and grew up on a farm.
She went to boarding school and then university in Adelaide and studied occupational therapy.
Her first job out of university was working in the return to work field which she really enjoyed.
After a brief stint working overseas, she moved to Broken Hill in 2010.
She saw there was no return to work consultants in town and set up a business.
Over the years it's morphed and changed to respond to needs of the town.
However, after she connected with local businessman Steve Radford, she got the courage to step out and purchase an MRI machine and open Thrive Medical in 2021.
Heather speaks to the ongoing challenges and specific needs places like Broken Hill have when it comes to providing health services and support.
Show Notes
Thrive Medical https://www.thrivemed.com.au/Dr Cath Cosgrove research https://attractconnectstay.com.au/
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.
Thanks to Foundation Broken Hill for its support in this project.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet Dawud Abu Junaid Gos, the Muqaddam (meaning 'the one brought forward) of the Sufi Centre in Broken Hill.
He is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback, an independent podcast about people living, working and creating in the far west of NSW.
I’m your host, Katherine Waite.
Dawud was born in Hobart in Tasmania and says he grew up playing sport and attended Taroona High School in the 80s.
After he left high school he worked briefly in childcare, moved to Sydney, worked in hospitality and studied English literature and classics at university. He says he was always searching for the meaning of the human being.
After he got married he moved back to Hobart and through a friend met the spiritual director of the Sufi Centre based in Hobart.
Dawud said Sheik Murshid F. A. Ali ElSenossi's teaching ‘touched his heart and bypassed his head’ and at the age of 28 he decided to become a muslim.
In the 2000s, the Sheik decided to relocate the Sufi Centre to Broken Hill and invited his students to come with him.
In 2010 Dawud and his family moved here and with other brothers and sisters helped build the Sufi Centre which includes a book shop, prayer room, library, office and more recently a bakery.
Dawud is a baker and the right hand man of the Sheik in Broken Hill.
I interviewed Dawud at the end of 2023.
To find out more about the Sufi Centre see https://www.almirajsuficentre.org.au/
A Home in the Outback is produced by Katherine Waite, a interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet the enthusiastic and passionate Jane Vaughan who is co-founder, co-director and employee of Big Sky Stories, a community-based organisation in Broken Hill which wants to give children in the far west of New South Wales a love of stories and reading.
She is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback.
Jane chose to move to Broken Hill about 15 years ago after finishing her university teaching degree in Sydney. Living in the city was not her cup of tea so she opened the street directory in her car one day and decided Broken Hill was ‘pretty west’.
She moved here without a job but word soon got around town a teacher was in town and she soon got a job at Railway Town Public school.
Around 2010 Jane started seeing new models of engaging children in creative writing open up in the cities and thought it was an exciting way to engage children in a rapidly changing world.
But there were no opportunities in the far west.
She sat on the idea for 10 years before deciding to dosomething about it and in 2022 Big Sky Stories began with a physical space in Argent Street in Broken Hill.
You can make a tax-deductible donation to Big Sky Stories via its website.
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Books mentioned by Jane in the podcast (purchase through One More Page to support Big Sky Stories!)
The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe
The Adventures of Bottersnikes and Gumbles -
Where the wild things are
The Jolly Postman
A home in the outback is produced by Katherine Waite ahomeintheoutback.com an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Meet Ben Clavel a former New South Wales police officer andnow English-channel swimmer living with post-traumatic stress disorder.
He is today’s guest on A Home in the Outback.
Ben joined the police force as a young adult.
He loved working for the police and found his passion inproactive police work.
However, in 2012 while working in Tamworth a colleague died which he says he felt partly responsible for.
The incident propelled him to work harder and faster to arrest as many crooks as he could.
However, the rush of living on constant adrenaline started to take a toll on his body.
After he moved back to Broken Hill with his family 2018, things began to unravel and he was eventually placed on restricted duties.
Ben says he felt a lot of pressure from management to return to frontline work even though he didn’t feel he was ok.
He was eventually medically discharged in 2021, and Ben reached out to local lifeline ambassador Brendan Cullen and began swimming as a way to help his mental and physical health.
In 2023, Ben swam across the English-channel in a team of 6.
If you or someone you know if a first responder and needshelp please contact Fortem Australia: a non-for-profit organisation which provides specialised mental health and wellbeing support to first respondersand their families. For more information head to fortemaustralia.org.au
A home in the outback is produced by Katherine Waite ahomeintheoutback.com an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill, NSW.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky - Heart is a desert from Dust Lust.
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Join me from 12 February 2024 to hear from people living, working and creating in the Far West New South Wales town of Broken Hill.
I am an interviewer and writer based in Broken Hill.
Music by Aimee Volkofsky
Thanks to support from Foundation Broken Hill and Spicer's Creative.
www.ahomeintheoutback.com
