This story is part of our Australian Back Roads and Remote Travel series.
We started from Canberra in late November 2022, four mates in a rented 4WD. It was a day-and-a-half journey through the central west and then across the notoriously flat Hay Plain. It got redder and flatter the further west we travelled to our destinations of Broken Hill and Silverton – towns of mining stories, boom and bust, and legendary outback characters. We drove nearly 1,000 kilometres to get there.
The journey immediately settled into a pattern of conversation, banter and bastardry established over a 40+ year relationship shared by all four mates – Guy, Steve, Muz and me. Three ‘Dusty Boots’ authors and one literary critic and coffee snob!
We had three days to explore and absorb before returning via a few other western New South Wales country towns. Broken Hill, famous as the birthplace of Australia’s largest listed company and the world’s largest miner – BHP Pty Ltd – had a few surprises for us. There was more to it than just mining.
The town centre, bisected by the Barrier Highway, was right next to the Junction Mine pit head. A massive pile of rocks from the mine loomed over the southern part of the town. Our first interest was the grand old pub, the Palace Hotel. Made famous by the movie Priscilla – Queen of the Desert, it was good for cold beers and an up-market dinner menu, both of which we imbibed. A huge, 2-metre plus high-heeled shoe from the movie was prominently displayed in the pub’s foyer.
With only a few days, we wanted to hit the high notes. Our military backgrounds drew us to the local history, in this case to White Rocks, the site of the 1915 ‘Battle of Broken Hill’. We read the story board, walked the small hill from where the shots were fired by some Ottoman sympathisers and viewed down to the railway line that the four locals who were fatally shot were travelling along. This World War I incident was the only act of aggression on Australian soil in that war.
The late, legendary bush artist, Pro Hart, had his home and studio on Wyman Street. It is now a fascinating gallery and museum containing original art works and his fully preserved painting studio. Pro Hart was a multi-discipline artist – painting and sculpture – who was most famous for a carpet cleaning ad on TV. He created a lifelike dragonfly from food items poured onto a carpet that the cleaning lady had to then clean using the advertised carpet cleaning product … “Oh, Mr Hart … what a mess” she proclaimed. An iconic expression and TV ad from the mid 1990s etched into our collective memories. The dragonfly was an inclusion in many of his art works. Two of us were so inspired by Pro Hart’s work that we purchased an original piece for our respective wives.
On Sundown Hill, in the Living Desert State Park 12 kilometres north of town, are 12 prominent sandstone sculptures by various artists. It was ideal to visit at sunset when the light plays dramatically across the outback landscape vista – all red dirt with a smattering of green shrubs and wildflowers. The walking trail around the sculptures affords numerous sunset picture opportunities and gives a strong sense of connection with the country and nature.
Silverton, less than 30 minutes to the north-west, was such a surprise. An enthusiast has established the Mad Max 2 Museum, full of left over props and other memorabilia from the 1981 filming of the Mad Max 2 movie in the barren surrounds of the town. Memories were evoked from that classic Australian movie directed by George Miller and starring a young Mel Gibson. The collection was extensive including some of the fearsome cars, the gyrocopter, costumes, threatening weapons carried by the cast, and numerous stills and promotion posters. It was another trip down memory lane for the four of us.
A little further on offered a chance to engage with the mining history of the region, a chance to go into an underground silver mine. Brilliant! It was well preserved, the tour guide very informative, and many of the relics on display were more than 100 years old. We were underground for more than an hour wearing miners hats with lamps, bumping our heads, and humbled by images of the workers and how they would have toiled in an era of less machinery and far more manual effort.
There was more to the region – wild donkeys at Silverton, a visit to the pit head, the Line of Lode Miner’s Memorial, and the Pro Hart sculpture garden. One of our group went on a solo midnight wander through the scrub around where we were staying – a resort 20 kilometres out of town – and upon return regaled us with stories of star gazing. A bit nuts we thought, but each to his own! Our journey to Broken Hill and Silverton was as much about mateship and friendship renewal as it was about tourism. But we achieved both. The location was out of the way, but the journey was a treat we will all now savour for years to come.
Silverton: A Town of Surprises
Once a roaring mining hub of 3,000 people, Silverton now stands as a living museum where the silence of the Barrier Range is broken only by the braying of resident donkeys. Located 25 kilometers northwest of Broken Hill, this ghost town was the precursor to the Silver City, established in the 1880s following a massive silver-lead-zinc discovery.
Today, Silverton is a cinematic icon. Its wide, red-dirt streets and sun-bleached colonial ruins have starred in over 140 films, most notably Mad Max 2. The Silverton Hotel serves as the social anchor, where the unscripted vibe is preserved in every weathered brick and parked Interceptor.
Beyond the film sets, the town offers a profound sense of scale. At the nearby Mundi Mundi Lookout, the flat desert plains stretch so far you can see the Earth’s curvature—a stark reminder of the isolation that defined Australia’s frontier pioneers.
I am a former Army officer and logistics specialist. In retirement I write articles and books ranging across military and naval history, biography and anthropology, which I publish through various association newsletters and websites and on Amazon. I live in Sydney.