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This
outback town is ready for lights, cameras and action!
A
town where donkeys wander down the main street, rusty old VWs are parked
defiantly in the elements as quaint artistic treasures. A leaning dunny
shakily stands on a town hillside, while ruins crumble all around. The
scene here is set for, well, it seems almost anything.
Once, way back in the
1880s, Silverton was a real buzz, with some 3000 miners digging away at
rich silver, lead and zinc deposits.
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When the
pockets of ore ran out, and the town’s population dropped to just
a few hundred people at the turn of the century, it seemed certain
that the place would be reclaimed by the desert.
That was until
Silverton was discovered by movie directors. |
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VWs
have replaced Gold Diggers. |
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This lonely
Outback town on the edge of the Mundi Mundi Plain, more than 1100km west of
Sydney, captured the collective imaginations of the movie sect.
The rustic, dilapidated and virtually-abandoned feel of Silverton was
just what they had been looking for. Some of the old buildings were restored,
and others were left untouched for their visual impact. There was a general town
clean-up and make-over, the actors were brought in and the cameras started to
roll.
Films like Mad
Max 2, Golden Soak, Priscilla: Queen
of the Desert, A Town Like Alice, Blue
Lightning, Hostage, Razorback, Journey
into Darkness, Wake in Fright, the
Slim Dusty movie – 45 movies all up – all have sequences filmed right in
Silverton. The place almost overnight had taken on the image of an “Outback
Hollywood”.
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While
in the past few years the film set activity has slowed, there
continues to be a stream of others heading into town to shoot
commercials, promotions,_travelogues and documentaries, all
featuring the now famous Silverton backdrop.
Midnight
Oil, Mick Jagger, INXS, Coca-Cola and an estimated 80 other teams
have been here, all looking to capture the Outback Silverton flavor.
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Not one of
the visiting stars -- this is a local resident. |
Along with
all of this glittering activity is the current “true blue” lifeblood of the
township – tourists, in cars, in buses and in tour groups, pouring into this
wild west Mecca of Australian film sets. Arts and craft galleries, the old jail
and museum, the historic court house, little old churches, the school and on
opal collection all draw visitors to revisit the past and take in the movie
atmosphere. But there is little doubt that one of Australia’s most famous
outback pubs – the Silverton Hotel, featured in many a film clip – is the
real drawcard.
Built along side the
site of the original De Baun’s Hotel that burnt down in 1921 (it’s reported
that in its first few weeks of trading 19 tons of beer was sold), the current
pub has appeal to all comers.
Boasting
such notable names associated with the town’s early days like Sidney Kidman,
the Dickens brothers (sons of author Charles Dickens), Dame Mary Gilmore (who
once taught at the small school) as well as early explorers who passed by here
looking for their vast inland sea, Silverton has clearly never been short of
attention and it appears won’t be, for a long time to come.
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And those
donkeys? Well, it seems they have developed a taste for ice cream,
and anyone wandering the streets with a cone in hand will usually
have several close followers.
And it’s not known
whether that leaning dunny is real or not, because nobody is game to
be caught doing their business in there when it eventually does
topple over. |
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Not
exactly the Tower of Pisa (I think there might be a pun there
somewhere but I aint touching it) |
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A
virtual ghost town it might be, but Silverton, it seems, still has an alluring
silver lining.
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Fact
File |
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Silverton
is on a sealed road, 23km north-west of Broken Hill.
Most
of the buildings in town have been classified by the National Trust.
While there are a dozen or so of the original buildings left, many
were dismantled and taken to Broken Hill when the miners moved on.
The old Silverton Jail, open to the public, houses interesting
relics and historic reminders of the town’s mining and wild west
past. |
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Best
time to visit is autumn, winter and spring. Nearest fuel, mechanical
services and supplies are at Broken Hill.
For
visitor information on Silverton, phone(08) 8087 6077.
Our
map is from Hema’s Road Atlas, contact (07) 3290 0322. |
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