15th February 2012 Silverton

We decided to go out early today to beat the heat... and we set off to see the historical town of Silverton, just some 25kms out of town.

Silverton,is a living, breathing part of Australia's history.
Even people who have never been here will recognise it, as Silverton has starred in countless films, television shows and commercials.
Nestled in the Far West outback of New South Wales, Silverton was built by miners in search of a fortune.
Once a bustling home to 3,000 people, residents began to leave in the 1880s when the nearby mines of Broken Hill surfaced. Many took their houses with them.
These days less than 50 people call Silverton home and only a handful of buildings dot the landscape.

The iconic Silverton Hotel is undoubtedly the heart and soul of the town.

Sitting in the centre of the town the pub has maintained it’s laid-back country life style even as it has flourished into one of the most filmed and photographed Hotel’s in the country.

I took a picture of John having a nice cold beer here too but it turned out blurred :(

 The original single story hotel was opened in 1884, to cater for the towns growing horde of miners. A two storey model replaced this, one year later as the growing Silverton population became increasingly thirsty. The building burnt down in 1918 and then Silverton Post Office became the current Silverton Hotel.

A replica of Mad Max's V8 Interceptor

We checked out the old gaol....

 Virtually every aspect of life in Silverton's heyday is represented, with literally thousands of items on display.
Tools of the trades of mining, transport, entertainment, technology, food, religion, sport, education and medicine are accompanied by a range of photographs, painting a vivid picture of Silverton's early years.
The unique surrounds and the gaol building, were erected in 1889.

Silverton's original gaol was put together from timber and iron. The building itself was less than secure, and prisoners were secured with leg-irons to prevent their escape.

 Due to overcrowding, prisoners often found themselves chained to a nearby peppercorn tree.
It was these appalling conditions which led to the erection of the current Silverton Gaol.
But as the town shrank the gaol found itself being used for short term prisoners and overnight lock-up only.
In the 1930s the building was used as a boy's reformatory. It was closed in 1942 along with the Silverton police station. After being tenanted for a number of years the building was abandoned.
In 1966 the Broken Hill Historical Society set up a trust to care for the historical building, and it was renovated and restored.
As well as keeping the building, the Society established the Historical Museum inside to ensure that Silverton's unique way of life would be preserved for generations. A very interesting place...

This was called a "Shock Bed" it had electric bulbs under the hood, apparently to help with shock hummmmmm

 I used to have to do our washing as a kid in something like this...

The good old singer sewing machine

We then moved on to the churches.There was a strong Methodist presence in Silverton in the 1890s.
The Methodist Church that stands today was built in 1885 as a place of worship for Presbyterians.
         

One of the most recognisable buildings at Silverton is the St Carthage Catholic Church.
The church has appeared on the big screen in the movie A Town Like Alice and has also appeared in numerous television commercials.  While we were taking photos of it the now owner ( who she informed us also owns the Pub) invited us in to see the renovation her and her husband are doing ...it was lovely inside but because it's not finished she wouldn't let me take photos... she is doing it up in memory or her parents who moved to Silverton in 1948 and were drovers, she was a baby then .. she has lived in Silverton all her life.

As the population of Silverton grew, so did the local school.
Reading , writing and arithmetic were first handled out of a tent, which was pitched in 1884.
A single-roomed, timber and iron building was built in 1887, housing 140 pupils and two teachers.
The building that stands now was built in 1888.
The Silverton Public School was closed in 1970. and reopened as a Museum in June 2009.

I took a photo of what is known as the Silverton scooter, it was built by an artist Christopher Trotter, and it was made of many relic's which were found in and around Silverton.

The temperature was now getting VERY hot...reaching 39 degrees.. so we headed up the hill and checked out the Mad Max Museum, which was an obsession of a man named Adrian Bennett,who lived in Bradford Yorkshire England who pack up and move halfway around the world to live his dream of owning and operating a museum dedicated to Mad Max 2. Adrian’s obsession led him to move to Australia in 2006 and then to Silverton in 2009 where the hard work then began to not only build but also to put together a museum dedicated to Mad Max 2..... The museum opened in September 2010.

 We then headed to the cafe, which was lovely and cool with a/c and had scones and a cup of tea.

We then headed out to Mundi Mundi lookout..which is located about 5 kms West of Silverton, the Mundi Mundi Plains is a truly breathtaking place. The view must be seen to be believed. The wide, flat heart of the Australian outback extends seemingly forever.  Of course, a lot of people have seen the area yet may not realise it, as it was in the famous crash scene of Mad Max 2.

On the way back to Broken Hill we checked out the local railway station. In 1876 silver was discovered, and in no time at all the township of Silverton emerged.The transport used at this new settlement were first supplied by bullock teams from South Australia. The SA Government passed a bill in November 1884, known as 'The Silverton Railway Bill' authorising the construction of a 3 foot 6 inch gauge railway line from Petersburg (now Peterborough) to Silverton. Work commenced in April 1885 and it was completed to the border in June 1887.

Further towards Broken Hill we turned off to check out the Day Dream Mines, checking the sign to make sure it was open as it was a 20 km drive  on a red dusty road... but much to our disappointment the gates were pad locked when we got there... I was NOT impressed...

Once again a great day of history today..Australia is amazing !!! Hope you all enjoy reading about it..