What's left of Silverton

 Another interesting mining town lies 24 km (15 miles) north-west of Broken Hill. Called Silverton, it was a substantial little town in the late 19th century before Broken Hill even came into being. And guess what it mined! I bet you guessed right ... it was silver. Like other mining communities, its population slumped once the ore body gave out or commodity prices fell below cost of production. Today, Silverton boasts a population of just 50! However, it's now a tourist attraction and the day we were there it was a lively spot with lots of visitors. This post will explain why.

This lovely welcome sign features mining, a railway, and movies! But that's not all by any means.

There are remnants of the old town some of which are functional even today; some of which are wrecked; and others that look just empty.

This, for example, is the exterior of the massive local prison. The mining town must have been full of nasty characters!

I'm unsure what this was - perhaps a school. Anyway, it now looks rather empty and, if a school, probably closed with kids bussed into Broken Hill itself.

This must have been the 'town hall' in the past, but again it looked empty, which is hardly surprising as Silverton is no longer at the heart of a shire.

The few remaining houses are widely scattered and, as you can see, the landscape is as flat as a tack, poorly vegetated, and many of the roads are unpaved.

One old building that was bustling with life was, unsurprisingly, the local hotel. Why not? It was a hot day and the town had a lot of visitors. I doubt, however, that anyone arrived in the vehicle parked in front!

Other buildings, like this derelict cottage, were long past their use-by date.

Here I am on a rusty old scooter that someone left behind. Suffice to say I wasn't able to move it anywhere.

We did see a few relicts of the town's mining heyday, as shown in the pictures below.

One of the town's biggest attractions was the gaol, now turned into a massive a fascinating museum. Have a look at this massive collection of pictures.

Here's a gun cabinet of guns, as you'd expect to see.

There were also many interesting historical displays of people, minerals, household goods and equipment, 

Then there were heaps of exhibits about prisoner surroundings - everything from the cells, toilets, 

Back outside from the prison we then explored several other interesting places, starting with the John Dynon gallery.

However messy the outside, the paintings inside were rather good.

And I rather liked this other artwork on the remains of a VW.

This is the view southwestwards from near the art gallery. Just look at the sparseness of the vegetation.

And this incredible place - Mad Max - is one of the buildings on the above skyline. Have you seen the film Mad Max 2? Well, it was largely filmed in Silverton and Broken Hill. See: https://silverton.org.au/experience/attractions/mad-max-museum/ . It contains lots of memorabilia from the film: especially equipment, photos and some movie scenes edited out.

Here are some views from inside and outside:

    

And this is the view from the Mad Max museum back down to what's left of the town.

We're not over yet. Silverton's pub (hotel) had some interesting customers - a group of donkeys like these shown here. 

And we thought this one was waiting for a beer!

Now for the final aspect of the town that caught our attention. It has a railway station, but disused since traffic on the line was halted way back. Like many such lines, it has been turned into a bike track albeit with rails still down.

Here's the old railways station. Interestingly, I saw just one bike on the track. But I did see a train!!

Can you imagine a train on this track. Am I have a joke? Ha Ha.

Well, it's partly a joke. I did see a train, but it was a camel train, a ride on which was yet another attraction in this far-out locality. Here it is going and returning. The passengers seemed delighted with their journey. I've also been on a camel train - along the beach at Broome in the far northwest of Australia. It's very enjoyable and highly recommended.

Well, we did a lot on this day and really enjoyed ourselves. Australia is full of interesting things like we saw. Come across and join in the fun. Apologies for the length of this post!

AS