City of Broken Hill

The City of Broken Hill is a local government area in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The area contains an isolated mining city, Broken Hill, located in the outback of New South Wales and is surrounded by the Unincorporated Far West Region. The city is located adjacent to the Silver City and Barrier Highways and the Broken Hill railway line. The mayor of the City of Broken Hill Council is Cr. Tom Kennedy, an independent politician. Council history Following a petition submitted by residents to the Colonial Secretary on 2 May 1888, the Municipal District of Broken Hill was first incorporated on 22 September 1888. The incorporation occurred during a typhoid epidemic, which killed 128 people, and the need for public health and water supply provisions was one of the main driving forces behind incorporation, and one of the biggest issues for the new municipality. One contemporary report commented that "The town is in a terrible state owing to defective sanitary arrangements. People continue to leave by trains daily in hundreds in view of the impending drought." As a consequence, in 1892 the private Broken Hill Water Supply Company completed construction on the Stephens Creek Reservoir, which provided the first reliable clean water supply to the town.