MAD MAX MECCA

 Not being film watchers, a lot of venues can be lost on us. [Well, in the past twenty years we have seen RED DOG and CHARLIE ‘N’ BOOTS, probably because we knew where they were shot!] Silverton, however, had been in existence for a long time prior to Mad Max.

Silver, of course, was its claim to fame. Even before the Line of Lode was discovered in Broken Hill, an extremely rich Lode was discovered in 1879 at Day Dream, adjacent to Silverton. A town of sorts was soon established.  Half-round houses were created by piling rocks on top of each other, eventually finishing it off with a hessian roof propped up by mulga poles. How hot would they be?

We toured this mine this morning and sampled the excellent scones, jam and cream!

The Mundi Mundi plain is known to some as Nicole Kidman did something out there, apparently. It was so flat that from the lookout, I swear we could see into South Australia.

And Silverton itself was great: excellent museums and good food at the Café. The iconic pub was too busy for us to have lunch there as there’d been a kids’ cycle race in the late morning.

 

  

You can’t help but wonder what will happen to our Queensland towns which have been invaded by mining. Will they suffer a similar fate to these ghost towns when either the coal or gas runs out, or the economics of mining it becomes unprofitable?