SILVERTON, New South Wales
Silverton is a classic outback town in the north west of New South Wales near the South Australian border and a 6 hour drive from Adelaide. It is now best known for the setting of the films Mad Max II, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and also its rich mining history, and many art galleries.
Silverton is almost a Ghost Town as there are not many permanent residents, and most of them work in tourism in the town.
Silverton was established in 1883 and was originally called Umberumberka after a nearby town and was then named Silverton and a Post Office was establlished and the population was 250 but soon doubled in size. When the Broken Hill Mines started to flourish, the Silverton mines declined and slowly the 3,000 residents moved out but then Silverton became a tourist attraction managed by the Silverton Village Committee and is now a mecca for artists. It is a very interesting town to visit.
 |
| Mad Max Museum |
 |
| The Mad Max Museum mural |
 |
Some rusty stuff!
|
 |
| One of the many Art Galleries |
 |
Municipal Council Chambers built in 1899
|
 |
| We had a nice lunch in this Cafe |
 |
| Umberumberka Dam |
 |
| This VW was recently rebuilt and is now an interactive display |
 |
| Another Art Gallery with some interesting paintings |
After leaving Silverton we stopped in Broken Hill and went to The Silver City Mint & Art Gallery. There were a number of different rooms with various art and silver jewellery displays and then a huge canvas measuring almost 100 metres long and 12 metres at its highest point. The artist, Ando, has created this panoramic mural which we walked around on a platform and the canvas was painted to create a backdrop of Australian outback scenes with artefacts and other objects in the foreground to give the feeling of actually being in the real life outback - it was truly amazing and apparently Ando is an untrained artist. The photos don't do it justice and it was difficult to get the perspective and size of it all.
5 comments:
Silverton is wonderfully photogenic. A perfect outback tourist town. I think Broken Hill is quite lovely too.
I've seen both Mad Max II and Priscilla Queen of the Desert and it looks rather familiar because of that in a way--lol! They have the best town sign! That's great that there are a lot of artists there. The mural is really amazing! I'm sure it has to be really striking in person--wow! What an interesting town. :)
The hotel and the cafe look nice.
The story of Silverton resembles the stories of some other places which flourished during mining periods, and with the decline of mining, people deserted it.
Anyway, it's an interesting place, worth a visit!
The photos of Silverton remind me of Arizona! I've never been to your part of the world. It looks interesting and beautiful.
Joan Elizabeth, thanks for your comment and Silverton is definitely different and a great tourist attraction. I like Broken HIll too but thought this last visit that it was a bit quiet but may have just been the time we were there.
Rita, those films were great and the Art galleries were wonderful too. Happy you enjoyed the photos.
Duta, we have eaten in both the Hotel and some other cafes. This visit there were busloadds of people entering the Hotel so the Cafe was the best choice for us and it was good. We do like the history of the old towns and there are quite a few here in Australia. Thinking of you at this time.
Post a Comment