Junction Mine Broken Hill

Located in Broken Hill in the Far West of New South Wales, the Junction Mine preserves some of the surface infrastructure from when it operated. Access is free and the site is open 24 hours.

The Junction lease was pegged in 1884 and the Broken Hill Junction Silver Mining Company formed soon after (1886). The mine worked the Line of Lode (silver–lead–zinc) from the 1880s in fits and starts; it was one of the earlier small-to-medium operations on the lode and never grew into one of the very large companies. The site’s most recognisable structure, the wooden headframe over Browne Shaft, was erected in the 1890s and is the oldest surviving timber headframe on the Line of Lode.

Junction produced intermittently: it closed in 1901 (low lead prices and treatment issues), reopened in 1906 (with Browne Shaft as the main working shaft), and after further changes of ownership was worked periodically through the mid-20th century. Parts of the lease were bought by North Mine in 1929 and later by Broken Hill South; the site saw activity again after World War Two and into the 1960s and early 1970s. Over its long life the mine produced about seven million tonnes of ore.

Although not the biggest operation on the lode, Junction is important because it preserves one of the earliest timber headframes and a range of relict mining structures that illustrate 19th–20th century workings on the Line of Lode. The site contributes to Broken Hill’s overall heritage value as a mining city with a long continuous history of extraction and associated infrastructure.

Buildings and features still visible to the public

The Junction Mine area is open as a viewpoint and interpretive location. The site includes:

• Browne Shaft timber headframe. The most striking surviving element; a tall wooden headframe and elevated timber-framed winding house structure. It’s been altered over time but retains its characteristic 19th-century timber form.
• Concentrator / processing building remnants. The concrete/steel tanks and parts of the concentration mill footprint and associated pipework and plant remain nearby.
• Interpretive signage and lookout. The Junction lookout provides an overview of the mine and the wider Line of Lode, with panels that summarise the lease history, working shafts (Browne, King, MacIntyre), and later mining phases.
• Mullock dumps and site earthworks. The spoil heaps, access roadways and pit edges remain visible and help show the scale of past operations.

The site is a roadside lookout on Menindee Road at the edge of Broken Hill. Because the old structures are fragile, there’s fencing in places and visitors are expected to observe safety signage and not enter unsafe buildings. The interpretive panels and the viewpoint make it easy to appreciate the site without going into dangerous areas.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.