The Town Like No Other

A Story of Broken Hill

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,” 1950–1970.

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.

Robert McLean, AM is a Director Emeritus of McKinsey & Company and Vice Co-Chairman Asia Pacific of the Nature Conservancy. He is the former Dean of the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW). He was a Fulbright Scholar to the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. Robert is the co-author of Bulletproof Problem Solving, and The Imperfectionists.

Cover Art: Florence May Harding, Broken Hill Nocturne, Broken Hill City Art Gallery,© Estate of Florence May Harding, used with permission

1 March 2026 Release
ISBN 9781764132121
Distributed by NewSouth Books