Broken Hill

Broken Hill is an isolated mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is 315m above sea level, with a hot desert climate, an average rainfall of 235mm. The closest major city is Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, which is more than 500km to the southwest and linked via route A32.Broken Hill has been referred to as "The Silver City", the "Oasis of the West", and the "Capital of the Outback". Although over 1,100km west of Sydney and surrounded by semi-desert, the town has prominent park and garden displays and offers a number of attractions, such as the Living Desert Sculptures. The town has a high potential for solar power, given its extensive daylight hours of sunshine. The Broken Hill Solar Plant, which was completed in 2015, is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.Time ZoneUnlike the rest of New South Wales, Broken Hill observes Australian Central Standard Time, the same time zone used in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is because at the time the Australian dominions adopted standard time, Broken Hill's only direct rail link was with Adelaide, not Sydney. Similarly, Broken Hill is regarded as part of South Australia for the purposes of postal parcels rates, and telephone charges. Broken Hill also used to be a break of gauge station where the state railway systems of South Australia and New South Wales met.