We went for a drive out to Silverton today. Silverton was a town of roughly 3000 people until the boom in Broken Hill, and these days it’s just about a ghost town – I think the current population is 50. Quite a few Australian movies have been made there, including Mad Max II, and Pricilla Queen of the Desert. It’s an interesting place to go see – a number of ruins have been left in place, and in some instances signage has been put up to let you know what the buildings used to be. There are also quite a few restored buildings such as the Municipal Offices, the Surveyors Cottage and the Silverton Gaol which is now a (very good) museum in which we spent a couple of hours.
The Silverton Hotel has been used in lots movies and advertisements. They have a fair amount of film memorabilia inside and plenty of beer which of course we had to taste. There were a lot of people around town – not sure if this is the norm, but I had the feeling it was partly because it was mother’s day. A lot of family groups were at the pub and café for lunch.
Day Dream Mine
We wanted to have a look at the old Day Dream Mine near Silverton. Not that we wanted to go down the mine, neither of us are keen on going into mine shafts these days 
, but we still like to look at mine sites. Mining first started here in 1882, before Broken Hill was discovered, and continued until 1983. Boys as young as 8 years old used to work in the mine. To get to the mine, after turning off the highway there’s a 20 minute drive on a well graded dirt road.
About 10km from Silverton is the Umberumberka Reservoir which has a lovely picnic spot. The landscape around Silverton and Broken Hill looks pretty dry,
Over the next couple of days we’ll be visiting some of the art galleries.