Collection Highlight

Featured Artist: Sam Byrne

Sam Byrne was born in 1883 in the Barossa, South Australia and moved to Broken Hill with his family in 1885.

Byrne's works are thoroughly enmeshed in the social and economic history and development of the city of Broken Hill. He worked on the mines until his retirement in 1949. He did not start painting until 1955, aged 72, after some years of retirement.

For the subject of his paintings Byrne drew on his memory of events that had happened during the formative years of the city and its progress. Byrne has become known nationally and internationally for his unique naïve story telling paintings.

Broken Hill in the early 20th century was the scene of great social unrest. Water famines, industrial disputes, poverty, pollution and isolation saw a class war fought on the city's dusty streets.

Miners striked, their families rioted and the mining companies locked out workers who refused to take illegal pay cuts. Troopers were brought in from Sydney to suppress the workers.

Sam Byrne witnessed this period and late in life began to paint his memories in vivid colour. Byrne's works are crowded with people, including “outsider” subjects such as turbaned Afghans and prostitutes, who were often, if not completely, excluded by the photographers and industrial artists who documented Broken Hill in the early 20th century.

Byrne's focus on human subjects makes him significant to a region whose art is dominated by landscapes and mining scenes. Sam Byrne died in Broken Hill in 1978.