MOUNT ISA
Bustout arrived at Mount Isa on a
Sunday and found the place closed. You forget things, but this place
is historically a union town. Union before mining. So working on
Sunday to this day remains sacrosanct at the Isa. And that’s great. We
are now waiting to see how this vestige of union history is translated
to Broken Hill.

Now, Mount Isa is a mining town; a
very rich mining town, and for the most part most participate in the
distribution of the mines output. The facilities at Lake Moondarah
bear testament to this .
High wages and Mine responsibility has
meant Mount Isa prospers.
    
Mount Isa is a young town (it all
happened in the 50’s) and to that end there is nothing truly old in
the Isa.    
The city came into existence soon
after 1923 when John Campbell Miles discovered a rich seam of
silver-lead - the western edge of the Cloncurry field. Named after the
Mount Ida goldfields in Western Australia, mining operations began
there a year later. In 1964, the town made national headlines when the
Australian Worker’s Union and lobbyist Pat Mackie led an eight-month
strike , which closed the copper smelter and led the Queensland
Government to declare a state of emergency in the region. The dispute
was settled in April 1965.
Mount Isa was proclaimed a city in
1968 when the population had reached 18,000. The city and surrounds
grew in front of and around the mine to the point that, by 1972,
34,000 people resided in the town. The population dropped steadily for
the next three decades until a mining boom occurred, steadily
increasing the population again.
So the pubs are not historic but have
retained the Qld feel.   
At this time the Isa War Memorial is a
bit of an afterthought. This will soon be addressed we are sure.
The Museums should be visited.
Particularly the underground hospital museum.  _small.JPG) 
All of the churches are of the modern
era.    
The two hour surface visit to the
Mount Isa Mines is recommended.
A minimum of four days is needed to
delight in the Isa.
Diary
notes    
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