CHARLES RASP
The founder of Broken Hill, was neither a geologist nor even a miner. He began his career as pastoralist but, his powers of observation made him the first discovery of minerals on the site of the Broken Hill Proprietary Mine.
Rasp was born in Germany in 1846 and 23 years later he took up residence in the colony of Victoria, where he began agriculture work.
His work took him to New South Wales and good fortune later attracted him to Mount Gipps Station in the Barrier RangesWhile he was working as a boundary rider, silver was being discovered at Silverton and Day Dream, not far away.
As a result, station hands began scrutinising the country side for signs of metal. Rasp was no exception. When he returned from a holiday in Adelaide, he brought with him a copy of "Prospector's Guide" and, in spite of the Mount Gipp's manager, George McCulloch's, opposition to prospectors. Rasp was determined to do a little prospecting on the "Broken Hill".
On September 5,1883, Rasp made his momentous discovery of the 'mountain of tin".
What drew Rasp's attention to his find was a black rugged mass of manganese-a formation that appealed, and probably still does-to the novice in mining.
The rock had been tapped before for galena, chlorides and, later a piece of ironstone containing chloride. Rasp however thought that the outcrop was tin, but in truth, it covered what the Melbourne Argus rightly predicted was the "richest silver-lead mine the world has seen." Rasp pegged out a claim and later told reporters: I had no idea of minerals, and was green as could be." He later resigned from Mt Gipps Station and a syndicate of seven was formed-the three original prospectors (un-named) and George McCulloch, Philip Charley, G.Urquhart and C.A. Lind.
Together, they took up more blocks and went in prospecting still thinking they were mining for tin.
Later they found lead and had it assayed in Adelaide but the results were carbonate of lead with a small percentage of silver.
The next step was the sinking of a shaft on one of the blocks
It was not as successful as hoped and another shaft yielded "enormous bodies of ore" but it was also poor.
The second shaft was deepened after discovering thin nodules of silver and then rich ore was discovered and on the first block 30,000 pounds worth of silver was taken out in a fortnight.
A company was floated with a capital of 16,000 20 pounds shares.
A boom began, money and people poured into Broken Hill and by 1890 the population had risen from half a score in 1883 to 20,000.
Charles Rasp was prominently connected with Broken Hill for years after the " boom" but extended his influence as far afield as Western Australia.
Rasp built a home, "Willyama" in Adelaide, where he died in May,1907.He left a widow but no child
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