The Town Like No Other

Name: The Town Like No Other
Brand: Bakers Lane Books
Price: 32.75 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

A Story of Broken Hill

By: Robert McLean

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Paperback | 1 March 2026

At a Glance

Format
Paperback

Dimensions(cm)
23.4 x 15.3

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$32.75

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Available: 1st March 2026

Preorder. Will ship when available.

In The Town Like No Other, Robert McLean weaves memoir with social and economic history to tell the story of Broken Hill during its 'magic years', 19501970.

This is the portrait of a town that punched above its weight: a world-class mining centre that delivered record incomes and productivity, but also a thriving community where unions, managers and miners forged pragmatic partnerships. At the same time, artists, migrants, educators and conservationists created a cultural identity that was fiercely local yet nationally influential, shaping the way the town saw itself and how it was seen from afar.

Honest and nuanced, this is the story of a community both ordinary and extraordinary. Broken Hill was a place of strong social capital, civic pride and opportunity, yet it was also marked by contradictions married women excluded from work, Indigenous people pushed to the margins, and families grieving lives lost underground.

Through lived experience and careful research, McLean captures Broken Hill at its zenith: resilient, inventive and deeply human, a town unlike any other in Australia's history.

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