Contacts

Broken Hill Historical Society is a big group with a very large remit: to run and maintain four local museums. So, we have a number of people available to answer queries.

For queries, start with the people on the below list. (If you are researching family and other BH history, see last paras below under ‘Research’.)

It helps us help you if you email or phone directly one of those contacts, because we are all volunteers in what we might call late, to very late ‘middle age’ 🙂

If you really can’t work out who to contact, please email societybhhsoc@gmail.com and we can sort it for you.

Museum queries

Museum queries, and other related research queries, go directly to the Society’s Museum Coordinators.

Mosque Museum queries

Caretaker Bobby Shamroze at shamroze1@bigpond.com.au or 0400 184 260. You can contact Bobby with queries about the Mosque Museum and for the local history of the Afghans, the cameleers and the Mosque, and for family history relating to a cameleer background.

Silverton Gaol Museum queries

Coordinator Ross Wecker at @viper.mars@bigpond.com or 0400 184 260

Silverton School Educational Museum queries

Coordinator Marlene Bettes at dixiebettes1@gmail.com or 0448 882 550. You can also contact Marlene with queries about Silverton’s general history, and Silverton’s family history.

Synagogue of the Outback Museum queries

Coordinator Margaret Price at margaret_price@hotmail.com.au or 0439 680 944. You can contact her with research queries on Jewish or general Broken Hill and regional history.

Society media queries

Jan Mahyuddin is Publicity Officer/Web media. Contact Jan on societybhhsoc@gmail.com for publicity queries and contributions/offerings to the Society website.

Gary Cook is Society Journal Editor. Contact Gary on societybhhsoc@gmail.com for queries about and contributions to the Society Journal.

Administrative queries

General administrative queries: Secretary Helen Daly, Mail to PO Box 212, Broken Hill, 2880 and Helen-Daly@bigpond.com Please ONLY contact Helen for membership, meetings and other administrative information.

Queries to the President, Jim Daly go to 0417 280 974.

Research queries

There are many paths to researching Broken Hill history depending on what kind of history you are exploring.

General Broken Hill and region research

You’ll see from above contacts that in the Historical Society itself you can contact Margaret Price, one of the Society’s most senior and long-term members with general local history queries.

Within the Society, too, you can contact Marlene Bettes and Bobby Shamroze, on aspects of both general and family history re Silverton and local cameleer history.

The Hill also has a marvellous City Council Library Archive (Outback Archives). Just now it’s closed for digitising and moving, but when it re-opens it can be contacted on obarchives@brokenhill.nsw.gov.au and 08 8080 3460. You can try it on general and family history. See https://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/Facilities/Library/Broken-Hill-Outback-Archives/Collections; https://www.brokenhill.nsw.gov.au/Facilities/Library/Broken-Hill-Outback-Archives; See more below.

And don’t forget the many BH Facebook pages that collect local history, especially photographic, both family and general: Just one is Broken Hill – Our Pictorial History at https://www.facebook.com/groups/650279221670179

Family history queries

There are two important places to start: the Family History Group and the Historical Society.

The Broken Hill Family History Group is a long existing group with a huge number of family history (including cemetery) records. Contact Jenny Camilleri at 0419 861 153 or jjjcam49@bigpond.com or at their office on 08 8088 1266. Jenny suggests the best way to get her quickly is to call her mobile. The Family History Group office is open from 10am to 2.30 pm Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

In the Historical Society, you should first contact Margaret Price, who is the Coordinator (see above) of the Synagogue Museum. Margaret has a wide collection, and is the curator of, many donated photos and letters over the years. And is a born and bred local with a very long memory. Margaret’s contact details are above.

The BH City Library web pages also have a run of important links that will help with family history and other research:

Ancestry – Research your family history using Ancestry library edition in the library.
Trove – National Library of Australia digitised database to search digitised newspapers, picture, music, diaries and more.

Broken Hill local newspapers:
- Barrier Daily Truth 1908, 1941-1954
- Barrier Miner 1888-1954
Broken Hill Cemetery Records website.