It is over a hundred years now since this incident on the Picnic Train in Broken Hill. It’s a curious story and I did not know about it until Christmas day. There was an older lady there who came from Broken Hill and one of her family had been on the train. She understood the power of this story and she could get through what a shock it had been for the community. We need to resolve this a bit better because it has never been properly explained. It may be that there is too much at risk to explain it either because it involved Afghan people or because it was apparently perhaps connected to the Ottoman and British Empires. It would be a complicated story to unravel but maybe now it’s time to do that and understand what really went on.
Despite being a spectacular incident many questions remain.
Claims have been made that the letters were forgeries and the Turkish flag planted. Lines in the ground have been declared on both sides of the story–some say the Afghans refused to take responsibility for the bodies others blame harsh treatment of the Afghans by the locals as impetus for the incident.
South Australia has had a long and close association with Broken Hill and it means a lot to us. It is right on the border between us and NSW. It is also the home of Pro Hart. The story has been well documented and various interpretations have been put on it over the years but it still remains a bit of a mystery but that tends to be part of our culture to have these unresolved historical narratives . Would be good to clear this one up.
The Talk of the Town 