The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd or BHP was floated, that is to say, shares in the company were offered for public sale. Over the next hundred and thirty-five years it was to become one of the world’s biggest mining companies. As a consequence of farming, mining and urban settlement of the region where the mining company began, the Darling River has virtually dried up. Children have been exposed to high levels of lead, arsenic and cadmium for over a hundred years, despite the fact that the dangers of exposure were recognised as early as 1893.