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Pioneers
Women Working in the Laundry
Women who settled in Broken Hill in its first few decades were not in for an easy life. A scarcity of water and firewood coupled with the constant presence of infection and disease only added to the discomforts of dust storms and high temperatures, particularly for the majority who were living in corrugated iron shacks with dirt floors, or tents made from flour bags stitched together. Those lucky few backed by wealth might enjoy the luxury of a stone cottage, but even they could not long withstand the heat. Infant mortality rates were high, and hospitals poorly resourced. Industrial strikes placed even more pressure on miners' families.