Silverton, NSW, Australia, 30th March 2015

Before driving back to Canberra, I stayed the night at Silverton, not far from Broken Hill and once a prosperous mining town.  I stayed at the hotel.  The grey beetle at the front is a Mad Max reference, because Mad Max 2 was filmed around here.

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Three donkeys wandered up for a drink at the hotel.  Their ancestors probably worked in the mines.

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This was behind the hotel, beside a stage that was at the time unused.  Multiple owners over the years.  At least three, I think.

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Opposite my unit was the remains of the original hotel, from 1884.  It allegedly sold nineteen tons of beer in the first four weeks of operation and was abandoned after a fire.

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It was late afternoon and I went for a walk, though everything apart from the pub was closed.  John Dynon’s gallery …

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… and his car, which he did not appear to be using.  Perhaps he lives in the back of the gallery so doesn’t usually need the car.

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There are many relics of the nineteenth century mining town

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and even a Mad Max Museum.

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The cafe was closed (as with everything else).

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Here we  have the remains of half a house

You can see what I mean from the historic photograph taken from a notice board at the site. Apparently, in the Depression, people could register a plan for a full house but if they were short of money they might only build half of it, in the hope that they could afford more later on.

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Another gallery was accompanied by some colourful accoutrements.

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This outhouse and the previous ute are illustrated with what appears to be a rural legend (well, it can’t be an urban legend can it?) of a flying dunny.

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Old beetles are ubiquitous, it seems.

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This old house with a kind of a rail scooter beside it had an open door at the back.

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This is the view looking through one of the windows.

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The wall paper seems recent (as in last hundred years or so).

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You may be able to read the frame of the bicycle if you click on the image.  This is a Silverton bicycle, as something of an art exhibit.

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Nearby, another old car.

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Silver was discovered near here in 1875 by two men drilling for a well.  The town was founded in 1885 and reached a peak population of 3,000 in the 1890s.  After that, the town was eclipsed by Broken Hill and also the silver lode ran out.  Now there are about 40 inhabitants.

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Somone put a lot of work into that stonework once.

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This is the Silverton Jail, built in 1889 and now a museum..