Discover Silverton: The Quirky Outback Town Where Mad Max Was Filmed

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has just hit Aussie cinemas and features one of NSW’s most stunning outback vistas. In the neighbouring tiny town of Silverton, Mad Max culture still lingers on 43 years after the first movie was filmed there.

Max skrrrt | Photo by Matt Williams

Silverton is the Mad Max Capital of the World

I’m peering over the fence into a yard with an odd collection of well-aged junk straggled all over and around a rusted Ford Falcon station wagon carcass. Near the front right wheel sits an ancient 10L oil drum with a white teddy bear inside, its head poking out over the rim.

The bear’s paws are draped with heavy duty metal chains. A bizarre scene? To some, yes, but not to me.

Are you ready for the Mad Max 2 Museum?

I’m in Silverton, a stark desert town, on the border of NSW and South Australia. And this yard, with its collection of ‘strange’ objects, is adjacent to the Mad Max 2 Museum, a rectangular corrugated iron shed with tyres, barbed wire, and car parts on its flat roof.

There’s no mistaking what the artwork near the museum’s front door is dedicated to.

The face of a much younger Mel Gibson – AKA ‘Mad’ Max Rockatansky – surrounded by The Humungus, The Feral Kid, Wez, and Toadie – all unforgettable characters from the second instalment: The Road Warrior – are immortalised on the corrugated surface.

For the uninitiated, Mad Max 2 is an iconic Australian post-apocalyptic action thriller film directed by Australian filmmaker George Miller. It was released in 1981, with the first Mad Max made in 1979.

It sees former policeman Max, played by Mel Gibson, roam the Aussie desert – the Wasteland – in a black, supercharged V8 Pursuit special vehicle, searching for food, petrol, and bullets. Max has one companion – an Australian Cattle dog and comes across desperate individuals during his journey – some who’ve banded together to form groups and hoard resources, like food and petrol, while exploiting the bodies of women and young men.

I’ve long been a fan of the Mad Max genre, so I was beyond excited to be stepping inside the museum. But before I did, a woman walked past in a hurry. I asked what she thought about the museum.

‘Oh I’m not going in there’, she said. ‘There’s a weird looking guy on the door, and it didn’t feel right.’

Curious, I open the black door and meet the guy in question. Yes, he looks like an extra from a Mad Max movie set – neck tattoos, silver knuckle rings on every finger, and a mean look.

‘That’ll be $7 thanks love, and no photos in the first room’, he said. He’s part of the Mad Max experience.

Rolling out the dust carpet on entry

Mad Max 2 Museum: Stuffed to the Rafters With Memorabilia

The Mad Max 2 Museum is owned by Englishman, Adrian Bennett. Now 60 years old, he was just 18 when he first watched Mad Max 2 in Bradford, England. That ignited his addiction to all things Mad Max.

In 2006, he and wife Linda left the UK for Australia. Eventually, in 2009 they settled in Silverton. To his surprise, he couldn’t find anything acknowledging this was Mad Max territory. Ady, as he’s known, decided to build a museum and fill it with as much Mad Max memorabilia he could collect. It opened in 2010.

Me taking in the memorabilia

Inside the museum’s first room, the walls are covered by hundreds of behind-the-scenes photographs. TV screens show never-before-seen footage – outtakes and stunts. As a Mad Max tragic, sifting through the images I retreat into a time where stunts were performed without elaborate safety equipment and call sheets were typed on a manual typewriter.

Through a heavy swing door to the back, I entered a large warehouse jam-packed with ‘big’ Mad Max memorabilia. The original gyrocopter, buggies, and replica vehicles are on display.

Ghoulish mannequins are dressed in fantasy, apocalyptic creations dreamt up by costume designer and art director, Norma Moriceau, an Australian who worked in fashion in London. She was enticed by George Miller to return to Australia to work on three of the Mad Max movies.

Honey I think you might’ve hit something

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the Latest in The Franchise

The fifth instalment in the mega Mad Max franchise, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, was released on Thursday 23rd of May in Australia. Mad Max aficionados from Australia and around the world cannot wait. Just like in Mad Max 2, Furiosa scenes were filmed in remote locations in Outback NSW, including the Mundi Mundi Plains.

In Furiosa, Chris Hemsworth has shed the kind-hearted hero of Thor, to become Dementus, a plundering bikie warlord with a sick sense of humour. Roaming around the Wasteland in his motorcycle chariot, Dementus leaves a trail of death and destruction as he asserts domination.

‘Dementus is a product of the Wasteland’, says Chris Hemsworth in a recent ABC interview.

Driving from Broken Hill, past Silverton towards the Mundi Mundi plains to the Bash, it was easy to see why Director George Miller returned to the area four decades later to recreate the desert wasteland Hemsworth refers to. Using cinematography Miller transforms the open plains into a harsh, post-apocalyptic landscape, befitting the Mad Max genre.

The road to Mundi Mundi | Photo by Matt Williams

Mundi Mundi Bash

What brought me to Silverton was the Mundi Mundi Bash – the biggest music festival in Outback NSW. During mid-August, thousands arrive at the regional mining town of Broken Hill, driving the last 38km to set up camp on a 40,000 hectare sheep and goat property.

Welcome to Mundi Mundi | Photo by Matt Williams

Last year, 12,000 festival goers camped out on the dusty red Mundi Mundi Plains in a half-arch layout. The three-day all ages, family friendly music festival celebrates Australian music and culture. 2023 marked the second Mundi Mundi Bash, the younger sister of the Birdsville Big Red Bash, which Greg Donovan started in 2013.

He left the corporate insurance world after being made redundant and pivoted to music promoter. Some said it was risky, but Greg defied those naysayers.

This year, where regular music festivals are having to cancel because of spiralling costs, the 2024 Mundi Mundi Bash sold out 12,000 tickets by mid-April, a few months after they were released.

The Mundi Mundi Bash | Photo by Matt Willams

The year I attended, the Mundi Mundi Bash had a stellar lineup of Australian musicians, like the Hoodoo Gurus, Icehouse, and the Angels. When the band, Chocolate Starfish took over the stage on Saturday evening, lead singer Adam Thompson seemed to be channelling Mad Max with his outfit and high-octane performance.

Chocolate Starfish’s frontman, Adam Thompson | Photo by Matt Williams

At 11am on Saturday morning, an attempt to create a world record with the largest gathering of Mad Max dress-ups in one location brought an eclectic mix to Mundiville. This is a hotly contested event at the Mundi Mundi Bash and there were plenty of festival goers who’d transformed into their best Mad Max characters. Even the Mayor of Mundiville, Event Director, Greg Donovan did a chameleon act.

Here’s Greg in his best get up | Photo by Matt Williams

What to Do in Silverton

During the mid-1800s, miners flocked to Silverton in search of silver, zinc, and iron ore. By the 1880s the fields in Broken Hill were more lucrative, so the locals shifted and Silverton’s numbers dwindled. Today, a collection of creatives has settled in the historic town.

For a population of around 50, Silverton’s art galleries are surprisingly world-class. Referencing the 39 dips in the long straight sealed road between Broken Hill and Silverton, Beyond 39 Dips has bespoke handcrafted items, like glass jewellery and pottery. Their decorative outhouse is a photo moment. Justin Cowz Art and Emu Man John Dynon have galleries in town.

Nothing is left unpainted at Beyond 39 Dips

At the Silverton Gaol Museum, you can dip into history with an eclectic collection of memorabilia.

In the centre of town is the Silverton Hotel where it’s not uncommon to see the local donkeys wander over for a drink. The original was built in 1884 to accommodate the town’s growing population of miners, going from a single-storey to a two-storey hotel quickly. But that burnt down in 1918 and the Silverton Post Office became the Silverton Hotel we see today.

Another 4km down the road from Silverton you pass the Mundi Mundi Lookout where on a clear day (which is most days out here) you can see across the dead flat Mundi Mundi Plains to the horizon. It was the location for the Mad Max 2 car chase and is a top spot for sunset.

What’s the attraction?

This unique pocket of Outback Australia has beautiful light, colour, and vast landscapes. There’s history, picturesque buildings, and bespoke creatives. You don’t have to be a Mad Max fan to visit, but if you are, you’ll find yourself searching for Furiosa.

Who knows what you’ll see!