The impact of Broken Hill on this nation has been recorded by many people, in many places, and we are reminded of it again as we meet in this city, in recognition of the role of Mining Professionals of the Barrier District in the formation of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy a hundred years ago.
Arnold Black, a mining engineer of international stature, had a profound impact on Broken Hill mining practices. Without his contributions to mining technology, the past 50 years would have been considerably poorer. His role in the introduction of new techniques of stope filling and the optimisation thereof, resulted in considerably safer, less arduous, and more profitable mining practices and in the recovery of many millions of tonnes of ore at Broken Hill alone which would otherwise have been lost.