Sunday, August 23, 2009

Broken Hill, Silverton and Menindee Lakes

Burke and Wills stayed in this hotel in Menindee before setting off on their fatal journey of exploration.
The Mad Max movies were made in Silverton and here is the car!

During our time at Broken Hill, we marvelled at the wonderful buildings from the colonial days. These ranged from the grand public buildings and hotels to the simple miners’ cottages. The mine still dominates the town.
We visited Silverton, 25 km from Broken Hill, referred to as a ghost town, that once had thousands of residents. Now it has museums, including the former gaol and school. These were fascinating. It also has artists and galleries of the bush art school.
Menindee Lakes are dry! The huge lakes are no longer the refuge for waterbirds and a place for Broken Hill people to ski and sail. We followed the river road that ran along beside the Darling River and then drove out to the main weir that stores water for Broken Hill. Saw lots of emus but they are so common, we no longer stop to take photos!
Our visit to the Broken Hill Galleries included those of Jack Absalom, Pro Hart and Julie Hart where we made a purchase.

1 comment:

Miss Di said...

So what did you purchase? The Mad Max car? Or a carpet with paint and spagetting thrown at it?