'Little Willy' Roberts

William 'Little Willy' Roberts won the hearts of the people of Broken Hill when the Tiny Town Midget Circus first came to the city in 1911. The show attracted an audience of 18,000 people – almost half the population of the town. It was noted in the local press that the takings for Broken Hill were a box-office record and that ‘in 25 years no show has taken so much in that place.’

William Roberts and his troupe were willingly accepted by the community of Broken Hill and the female members of the circus were even allowed underground. Another record, apparently, since women simply did not go down the mines. According to the same press report: ‘no women are allowed to go into the depths and the midget ladies were the first to go down for five years, the last lady being a governor’s daughter.’

When the circus of strong men, acrobats, dancers, comedians, and high-wire-walkers left Broken Hill, William Roberts and his family decided to stay. William, not yet twenty, got a job at the BHP mine as a ‘feed boy’ loading ore onto a conveyer belt to be transported. He was, as far as we know, 3 feet, 4 inches high in his pit boots, but proud to be a miner and to be able to help feed his family.

'Little Willy' Roberts was not yet thirty when he was killed in 1914, in an accident involving the conveyer belt at the mine. After his death, the people of Broken Hill rallied together and sold copies of a postcard of Willy in his circus uniform, which raised funds to help the Roberts’ family. William Roberts had only lived in Broken Hill for four years when he died, which was long enough to become part of a community that embraced diversity.

Audio transcript available.