Royal Exchange Hotel at Broken Hill: Ron visits Outback New South Wales(just over the border from South Australia)

Wander around the back streets of Broken Hill and you come across some interesting outback architecture. Most of the town's houses were built prior to World War One and were constructed of light, easily transportable galvanised iron in styles ranging from the simple to the ornate.

The Broken Hill 'tinnie', as it's known is a feature of the town but nearby there are more substantial homes made of local stone and brick built in the South Australian style. Not surprising really, given the border is just forty-eight kilometres away. South Australia also has a very strong connection with many of the public buildings that dominate the city streetscape - particularly the Art Deco styles built by Adelaide based company, Vickers Brothers.

In 1938 they built the Royal Exchange Hotel in the heart of town on the corner of Argent and Chloride Streets. The street names draw on the town's mining past and you are never far from the line of lode and miners' memorial that overlook the city. They, along with the Post Office Clock and Argent Street's impressive array of late nineteenth century buildings are visible from the hotel balcony.

But the modern hotel sits on the site of the original pub. The first Royal Exchange Hotel was built of wood and iron in the days when Broken Hill looked like a town from the Wild West.

"Originally it was the exchange for share trading of BHP and other mines," explained manager, Fritz Angst. "It was burnt down in 1888 on Guy Fawkes Night."

Its replacement now offers some of the finest accommodation in town harking back to an era when style was all-important. The Royal Exchange was always popular with honeymooners and wealthy graziers during the days of the wool boom. It's classy interior speaks of a time when at least part of the money from a good wool clip might be spent in the bar. The timber for the imposing columns on the ground floor is Tasmanian oak and the polished floorboards are West Australian jarrah.

For Fritz, the Royal Exchange is an outback jewel in an area which lived up to his early expectations when he arrived here as a migrant from the German speaking part of Switzerland in the early sixties.

"The first time I came here," said Fritz. "This is what I expected Australia to look like - the wilderness, the outback."

The real outback is just a bus or four wheel trip away on one of the hotel's Broken Hill Outback Tours. They'll take you to the town's world famous sculpture park, the nearby Darling River and the Menindie Lakes system, the historic town of Silverton and the vastness of the Mundi Mundi Lookout. They're just some of the local sites on offer.

The Royal Exchange Hotel has all the details and is a great base from which to explore the region. To book contact 1800 670 160. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

The Royal Exchange Hotel
320 Argent St
Broken Hill
Bookings 1800 670 160